A Demon's Plant
by CryingBlossoms
Summary: When Meyrin finds a picture of Ciel's old nanny the past comes back to life, or maybe it never really died, but Ciel's not the only one with connections to a mysterious 16 year old girl with no past; it turns out that Sebastian knew her too, 20 years earlier. He once worked for her father, and now she's paying the price for his sin's with her life. Over and over again. SebastianxOC
1. His Butler, Reminiscing

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.**

**Authors note: This is my first attempt at a fanfic and I'm open to criticism. Please rate and comment. Just so you know Ivy actually doesn't show up until Chapter 2 and this chapter is entirely to set up a small amount of background before the story actually begins.**

"Young master!" Ciel's head instantly shot up in surprize as his pink-haired maid came shooting through the door and practically slammed into his desk. She was holding an old music box in her hands that looked familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place it. "I was cleaning one of the old storage rooms and I found this music box! It has lots of old photographs in it, yes it does." By now the shock had worn of and Ciel was becoming irritated with his maid's actions.

"Is that all you came in for? Just dispose of the photographs. I don't really care what you do with the music box." Just as he finished speaking Baldroy and Finnian made their way into the room with Tanaka close behind.

"What's goin' on? We heard Meyrin screamin' 'bout somthin' from all the way 'cross the house." There was slight concern in Baldroy's voice.

"Ah! I found this music box in one of the old storage rooms, yes I did."

"A music box?" Finnian questioned excitedly.

"Yeah. It's even go-" She was interrupted by a now extremely irritated Ciel.

"If that was all you wanted then go and get back to work. All of you."

"But I wanted to know who the girl in the photographs is!" She was practically shouting as she began fumbling with a small drawer at the bottom of the box.

"If there's a girl in it its most likely Lady Elizabeth." Sebastian who had stood silently behind Ciel until now finally spoke up.

"Who? Oh nevermind." Finally finding what she was looking for she pulled out an old photo that depicted the Phantomhive family along with a few of their servants who were standing in the background, but the thing that stuck out most was a young girl, no older than sixteen, with skin so pale you'd have assumed she was a ghost if not for the fact that she was carrying a young Ciel in her arms. Meyrin suddenly pointed to her, "This girl. She looks far too young to be a servant, but I've never seen her in any other family photographs." Ciel sat staring wide-eyed at the photo before snatching both it and the music box from Mayrin's hands.

"That girl's name is Ivy. She was my nanny for about five years. Now that I think about it I don't remember her appearance changing the entire time she was working for my family. When she first started working here she didn't remember anything other than the fact that at one point someone called her by the name Ivy. She was the only caretaker I've had that I actually liked. She left when I was nine though. She didn't even tell anyone good-bye or where she was going. All that she did was leave a note with a promise that we'd meet again and her real name. I can't seem to recall what it was though."

"Did she ever come back?" Finnian was already sitting on the ground and making a face as if he was a child being told a story.

"No. She never did and I doubt she ever really will. She always told me as many stories as I wanted and she taught me how to play chess. She always said such strange things, but she also always seemed to know much more about things than most people." By now Ciel was staring at the picture in his hands as if he would miss something if he looked away.

"The way you talk it sounds as if you had a crush on her." Once again Sebastian was speaking from his place behind Ciel but this time there was a hint of anger in his voice.

"No! That's not it!" He could feel his face heating up as he turned to face his butler in protest, but he was more focused on the picture than on what Ciel had to say in response to his words. Ciel turned back to his four other servants who were now discussing what they had heard and also paying no attention to his response.

"Did you hear that? If she hasn't come back yet then that means we will get to meet her when she does, yes we will."

"I wonder what she's like. With a name like Ivy she must know something about plants. Maybe she'll help me in the garden."

"Nah. If she was a nanny she must know how to cook. She'd be helpin' me in the kitchen."

"Hoh. Hoh. Hoh." They all got a dreammy look in their eyes as they imagined what the former Phantomhive nanny would be like. Then all at once they had questions for their young master.

"Did she say when she'd be back? What was she like? Was she good at house work?"

"Did she like plants? How much did she know about them? Did she like being outside?"

"She knew how to cook right? What kinda food did she make?"

Ciel wasn't sure how but he managed to keep track of all of the questions. "No, she didn't say when she'd be back. She seemed cold but was usually nice; just tired. I don't remember anything ever being a mess when she was around. She liked plants more than most people and could usually answer any questions anyone had about them though she tended to do that with most subjects. I don't think she liked the sun much because she only seemed to go outside at night or on cloudy days. She was a good cook and made pretty much anything that she was asked to. If you have anymore questions you might as well ask now because I doubt I'll bother answering later."

The three servants looked at each other before looking back at their young lord and speaking in perfect unison, "Will we be able to meet her when she comes back?"

"If, and that's not really my say now if you're all done I have work to do and so do you." Upon hearing this the servants all immediately ran out of the room under the pretext of getting back to work, but even through his closed office door he could hear them continuing their conversation about what she might be like and when they'd get to meet her. When he was sure they were out of earshot he turned back around to face his butler who was still eyeing the picture on his desk. "Based on the way you're looking at this picture I'm going to assume you know Ivy. She doesn't seem like the kind of person who would make a contract with a demon so I'm quite curious. How do you know her?"

Sebastian answered while still looking toward the picture as if in a trance, "You are correct in assuming that she did not make a contract with me; though it did concern her. Her father was the one with the contract. Upon seeing me she realized almost instantaneously that I was a demon. She wasn't even slightly bothered by it though. All it really caused was her asking a few simple questions and then moving on. Anything more about her past you wish to know you'll have to ask her when you meet again. If you don't mind my asking, how long ago was that picture taken?"

"I believe this was when I was seven, so about five years ago. Why does it matter?"

"She looks exactly the same in that photograph as she did when my contract with her father ended, but that was nearly twenty-five years ago."

"Meaning that for at least twenty years her appearance didn't change slightly. That's extremely unlikely. This is Probably just a relative of hers. Her daughter Maybe."

"No. I'm sure it's not her daughter and the resemblance is much to great for her to be anyone else. This is Ivy. I've no doubt of that."

"Hm. Interesting." With that Ciel began looking through the letters he had received that day. "There's an order from the queen. It seems that she wants us to investigate an old mansion Just outside of London. apparently there have been multiple sightings of a ghost of a young girl wandering the property and now the roads around it have been closed for fear of angering her. Our job is to figure out if it's true and if it is then we are to find a way to make her leave. The manor belonged to a family by the name of Bell .Why does that sound so familiar? I suppose I'll find out when we get there. Sebastian prepare for our departure immediately."

"Yes, my lord." They left for London the next morning.


	2. His Butler, Reunion

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.**

**Author's note: My computer hates my guts and is only letting me upload one chapter per day and if I try to combine chapters or make them more than about 1,700 words my computer freaks out and won't let me upload at all so I decided I will try to post one chapter every day when I get the chance. Please comment and rate. I will gladly accept criticisms and if you have any ideas for something you'd like to see happen later on feel free to say them and I'll probably use them to help me when I need ideas. I will credit you in it. Also if you have another character you want me to write a fanfic for please feel free to ask about it.**

"So this is the Bell Manor. It has been abandoned for over twenty years yet it still looks as if it were just built." Ciel stated coldly as he stood at the door to the old mansion. "According to the reports there was a family of three living here. The Lady, Kate Bell, died of illness at the age of thirty-seven. The Earl, Richard Bell, died at the age of forty-nine while in prison for multiple accounts of attempted murder ten years after his wife's death. Lastly their daughter, Miss Rose Bell, who is still alive today but has been locked up in a local asylum since the death of her mother. They were the last inhabitants of this house. If this information is true, who is the ghost?" As Ciel came to the end of the list of names Sebastian couldn't help but frown. He quickly switched back to his neutral expression as Ciel turned to face him. "Let's go then."

As the two entered the manor there was a loud crash down the hallway to their right. They quickly ran down the hall and reached a large room. They made it just in time to see a black blob shoot across the room. Turning to look in the direction it had gone they saw a beautiful young brunette woman wearing a black dress sprawled out on the floor. Even from across the room they could tell that she was unconscious and badly injured. They made a quick scan of the room but didn't see anyone else.

Sebastian began walking toward the woman but was stopped by what looked a lot like hedge clippers attached to a metal pole and a voice from behind him. "I can not allow a demon to get any closer."

"Spears? What are you doing here? It's obvious that woman isn't dead yet. None of her injuries look anywhere near deadly either." Ciel called from his place at the door.

"That's correct Shorty. She's not dead. Not human either. Glasses is here because we heard there was a demon in the area causing trouble and we were given the job to bring an end to it." Ciel jumped at the sound of a new voice in the room. It seemed familiar but he wasn't sure why. As he turned to look in the direction he believed the voice had come from he found his answer. Standing in the shadows was a young girl, no older than sixteen, with skin so pale you may mistake her for a ghost. She had pure white hair that had been cut messily just slightly past her jaw line. Her old, black dress greatly contrasted her complexion. Her ruby red eyes stared lazily in the direction of the woman on the ground and her expression matched that of someone who was bored with the situation they were in.

"Ivy?" The question came from two different areas of the room. Both Ciel and Sebastian had a look of disbelief on their faces but did their best to hide it. The girl pulled her attention away from the unconscious form on the ground and looked; first at Ciel, then at Sebastian.

"Yes? What is it? The two of you look as if you've seen a ghost. I don't think I remember either of you making faces like that before." Her voice was just as bored and lazy as the expression on her face.

"You know these two Jane?" Spears finally seemed to be understanding the situation.

"Yes." Straight to the point as if it was of little importance to her. For a split second after she said this a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth but before it had time to form her attention was once again on the woman in black on the other side of the room. She had opened her eyes and was attempting to stand. Her eyes had begun glowing red and her annoyance was obvious.

As Ivy took a step in the direction of the woman Spears put his hand out in a way to tell her to stop. "I'll handle the rest of this Jane. If I allow you to continue it will make more paperwork for me to do." Ivy just shrugged and began walking in the direction of the doorway Ciel was currently standing in. By the time she got there Sebastian had already returned to his side.

"So now I know why the reaper is here, but I'm not entirely clear on your reasoning." Ciel's initial shock had worn off and had been replaced with curiosity.

"I had assumed you would have forgotten my real name by now but I also believed that when you heard the name of the manor's owner you would remember at least slightly." Her monotonous voice was really starting to get on his nerves.

"What are you going on about? I was hoping for one of you straight to the point answers." Another small smile tugged at her lips but once again it faded before it formed completely.

"You are currently at the Bell Manor Shorty. My name is Jane Bell. I would prefer you don't call me that though. My home is here."

Ciel really didn't like the way she phrased that. The small "Tch" he heard Sebastian make from behind him didn't help. "That doesn't make sense. I got no reports of anyone by the name of Jane Bell. While we're discussing things that don't make sense, how is it that you haven't aged since I last saw you? How do you know a grim reaper and a demon? What connection do you have with this house and the Bell family? And why do you still insist on calling me Shorty even though I'm nearly as tall as you?" His last question was shouted more than spoken and sounded to Ivy more like a little kid complaining than a part of his actual questioning. She responded to his mini-tantrum calmly and mechanically and decided she would answer as many questions she was sure he'd ask later while she was at it for the purpose of saving time.

"My name is Jane Bell as I said. I am Rose Bell's twin sister. Daughter of Kate and Richard Bell. Kate was unstable both mentally and physically. She was expecting only one daughter but was given two. She was unable to handle the idea and this caused her to break down multiple times. This made her physical condition worse as well. In order to help his wife Richard decided to hide one of the children and pretend it never happened. I was the child who was hidden. This worked well and due to her mental condition Kate was easily convinced that she had only one daughter and her health improved rapidly. Richard made the decision that in order to protect her he would keep me hidden for as long as he could. When I was about six years old he realized that he could no longer do this by himself so he enlisted the help of a demon." She gestured to Sebastian as she said this. "This continued for another four years before Kate once again fell ill. Unable to handle what was happening he became very violent believing that I had caused it. Five and a half years later Demon left for reasons you would have to ask him about. Kate died when I was sixteen. Shortly before she died though she began calling out for both of her daughters to come to her side. Both of us went. She both apologized and thanked us for everything before quietly passing with a smile on her face. It was then that Richard returned to find his wife dead." She paused trying to decide what she should do next. "As for why I know a grim reaper and why I haven't aged. Well, how bad do you want to know?" Another small pause before she reached out and ruffled his hair; an action highly contrasting her calm, uncaring demeanor. " By the way I still call you Shorty because you are short for you age."

Just as Ciel opened his mouth to respond he was interrupted by Spears shouting, "Jane, look out!" and suddenly the air was filled with blood and the sound of tearing flesh.


	3. His Butler, Raising Questions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.**

**Author's Note: I realize its going really slow and I'm really sorry but I don't want to cut any chapters out and mixing chapters together doesn't work so well so please forgive me for that. Ivy's past will finally be revealed in detail and the story will move on to being at the Phantomhive Manor in chapter four which will either be posted tomorrow afternoon or sometime Sunday (There is a chance I won't have my computer till then.) and then the pace will begin to pick up. Please Rate and comment. Does anyone even read these notes? :( Oh well I'm going to keep writing them any way. **

Sebastian immediately sprang into action. Throwing the female demon across the room and taking a stance in preparation for the imminent fight, but it was already too late. The damage had been done. Ciel felt the hand that had been ruffling his hair just seconds before go limp and slide off his head as the girl it belonged to fell to the ground.

Her hair and skin were being stained red by the rapidly spreading puddle beneath her. Ciel couldn't help but notice that it was the same dark shade of red as her eyes as he watched all remaining signs of life fade from them. He felt as if he'd be sick, but he couldn't bring himself to look away. Everyone else in the room stood still watching the girl as if waiting for her to get up, or at the very least show some sign that she was still breathing. Suddenly the silence was broken with hysteric laughter. "What are you all expecting to happen. She's obviously dead and once you die there's no coming ba-" Sebastian's hands were around the woman's throat before she had a chance to finish.

"Shut up." There was a tone in his voice that shocked both Ciel and Spears.

"What's wrong? Mad that I killed your little girl friend? It's you're fault for falling in love with a hu-" Again her words were cut off by his hand tightening around her throat. By now the sounds of her vertebrae cracking were echoing throughout the room.

"I said shut up." His voice was threatening but she kept a sickening smile plastered to her face. She opened her mouth obviously about to start again but was interrupted by a voice on the other side of the room.

"What's with the atmosphere in here? Who died?" The voice was calm to the point of seeming cold, but it also had a joking manner in it. No one even had to turn around to realize who it was; only to believe it. Sebastian released the woman and moved so quickly to the side of the girl who had suddenly appeared out of no where. The female demon had been so shocked that she momentarily forgot how to speak. That didn't last long though.

"That's not possible. I know for a fact that you were dead. There's no way you could have lived." At that moment everyone except for Spears turned to look quickly at the body on the ground for conformation of her death and then back at her. Then as the initial shock began to fade they noticed something so obvious that they wondered how they had missed it til now. There was something strange about the way she was currently dressed. She no longer wore the black dress as she had before. Her dress was now a dark red color. It only reached to her knees and it looked like it was made from over sized rose petals rather than fabric. Her eyes had grown to look even less caring than before.

Ignoring all of the eyes currently focused on her she turned toward Spears. "I thought you said you'd handle her Glasses. It actually takes a large amount of energy for a plant to grow you know. I believe I'd like to take this into my own hands now. I will handle any extra paperwork caused by my interference." With that she walked over to what looked like just a pot of dirt to everyone else in the room. She plucked a seed from pouch on her side and buried it in the dirt. Suddenly a stem with one leaf on it sprouted. It quickly grew to be taller than Ivy and she grabbed onto it and pulled it from the dirt. She shook it once and it suddenly looked solid and the leaf seemed sharper than any blade Ciel had ever seen.

Before anyone was able to wrap their heads around what was happening she lunged at the female demon and swung the scythe. The distinct sound of flesh being cut was heard once again only this time it wasn't Ivy who fell. Right before their eyes the female demon's head fell off her shoulders and rolled across the floor. Ivy slowly turned her head watching as it rolled across the floor until it hit a wall and stopped. The she turned her attention to the other body still lying on the floor.

She walked over to it and motioned for Ciel, who was still within arms reach of the body, to step back. He quickly did as she instructed; curious as to what she was about to do. She looked into the lifeless eyes staring up at her before making a small "Tch" sound. Without looking away or batting an eye she quickly raised her right foot and brought it down hard right in the middle of the face that matched her own. There was a loud cracking sound as the skull shattered and withing seconds her legs were covered in blood that had splattered out. She took a step back and looked at Ciel who was now giving her a horrified look. "If someone saw that body and then saw me it would certainly raise some questions. Most of which not many would believe the answers to." was her attempt at an explanation. "You wanted to know why I haven't aged right? Well that should have answered your question though I'm sure it also raised quite a few. You never answered mine though. How badly do you wish to know the answers?" She was still calm even after stomping her own head in and Ciel was beginning to believe she wasn't capable of getting emotional about anything.

He managed to find a response he found suitable for her question. "I wish to know as much as you are willing to tell, I suppose." He assumed she accepted the answer since she nodded quietly in response. She turned to look at Sebastian who had gone back to standing behind Ciel at some point.

"You've been awfully quiet Demon. I assume you are curious too. I don't mind telling you, but I believe it would be easier to show you. I must warn you though that once it begins there is no turning back until it's over. Do you wish to see why I went unheard of and what happened that caused me to never fade?" She looked between the two of them waiting for a response and they both nodded. From behind her she heard someone clear their throat. She turned to face the only other person in the room. "Glasses your job here is done. Why have you not gone back to report what has happened yet?"

"I will not condone your spending any more time than necessary with the likes of a demon and his contractor."

"That really is none of your say Spears. I haven't really any reason to go back just yet and I've already agreed to show Demon and Shorty what happened that day. If it is simply about the paperwork I promise I will get that done for you, but for now I'd very much like it if you'd leave." Upon hearing this Spears nodded in response and left almost instantly. Both Sebastian and Ciel took a few seconds trying to understand why; then they realized it. She had called him by his actual name rather than Glasses. They knew her well enough to realize that was a sign that she was getting annoyed with you. She turned to look at the two of them. "Shall we begin?"


	4. His Butler, Reincarnated

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.**

**Author's Note: Hurray, I finally got my computer to let me post a long chapter. So this chapter is kind of sad and a lot happens but as it has been so far it is mostly background. In fact every thing in this chapter that is in italics is back story. If you want to skip that then unfortunately there will only be two short paragraphs for you to read. On the bright side starting in the next chapter she will start her life at the Phantomhive Manor so I guess you can look forward to that tomorrow. Please comment and rate and tell me what you think of it so far. I still don't think anyone reads this part but as I said before I'm going to continue doing them anyway.  
**

_"No! Get out! I just want my daughters! I don't need anyone else so just go and let me die happy!" The words echoed through the dark halls and reached every corner of every room in the mansion. The same effect was created by the sounds of footsteps moving away from the room and then of the front door opening and closing violently. Then there was nothing but an eerie silence filling the house. It stayed that way for a long time before the bedridden brunette once again began to speak. Her voice was much calmer this time. "Rose, where is your sister? I wish to see both of my daughters in my final moments. She was speaking to the young girl who was sitting in a small chair at the end of the bed. In the days prior that had become her permanent spot. Her curly black hair shifted on her shoulders as she turned to face her mother. Her brown eyes now widened in shock momentarily before fading back into the sad, empty ones they had been for the past few days._

_"You mean Ivy? She has disappeared back into her own world. She believes she is not allowed to exist in the same world that you and I do and she has no desire for the two worlds to mix. I doubt you'll be seeing her."_

_"Ivy. That name suits her quite well. I suppose it makes sense that she would refuse to go by Jane. I was the one who picked it out for her after all. If she won't come to our world maybe I should go to hers. Do you know where it is exactly?" Rose raised her hands and gestured all around them._

_"It is here mother. She hides in the hollow walls and in the shadows. Her world is the one that is always just out of sight. If you call to you she will hear you, but I cannot guarantee that she will come out." _

_The woman smiled and with a weak voice began calling to the unseen girl. "Ivy, please come out from your world; even if only for a second. I have much I need to tell you, and I will not be able to move on if I don't get to." They sat in silence for a few seconds while waiting for something to happen. Then from the darkness of the hallway a pale girl with tired red eyes emerged. Her pure white hair fell in strands in front of her face and was so long that it reached all the way to the ground and dragged behind her. It more closely resembled a long veil than it did hair. She wore a grey dress that looked as if it had been repaired and refitted multiple times. She looked back and forth between the two of them._

_"Happy?" Her voice was quiet and raspy as if she was in the process of losing it. They all knew that it was in fact the other way around though. She was not losing her voice. She was gaining it. Having not needed it for the majority of her life she only bothered learning a few words that she thought she may need later. The sickly woman in the bed once again smiled tiredly._

_"Almost. There is still much I need to tell you before I can say I'm truly happy." She paused to see the girl's response. After getting a nod in conformation she continued, "I wanted to apologize to you. For everything. You were forced to create your own world and you even allowed yourself to be forgotten without complaint. I know it was all for my sake. I had never truly forgotten that you existed, but I can't say that I didn't try to. It was always still somewhere in my mind, but I refused to accept it. Then one night I saw you in the garden and could no longer refuse it. You existed. I hadn't even thought of how it would effect you until I saw you that night. You looked so lonely and seemed that you really did love the plants though considering you spent every night in that garden. Maybe it was because they seemed so much kinder to you then humans did. It was all my fault. Now I know that there is no way that I can ever make it up to you bu-" She was stopped by a pale hand rising into the air._

_"Forgiven." Ivy only said one word but it had her mother in tears. _

_"That's not possible. Everything was taken from you because of me. No one can forg-"_

_"Forgiven."_

_"But -"_

_"Forgiven." It was as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders with every tear the woman cried. She realized it shouldn't have been that simple but the way that her daughter said that one word, as if it was a unarguable fact, made her feel like it was true. Even through her tears she could see a white blob moving across the room to the wall on her left. She leaned over and picked something up. As she put the item on her shoulder music began to play. The item was a violin and she was the one creating the music. The song was slow but not sad. It was peaceful and calming. She closed her eyes and began to listen. The sound was getting quieter and quieter and she had begun to hear yelling right next to her ear. _

_"Mother! Mother! Whats wrong? Please open your eyes!" She realized that it was Rose calling to her but she was unable to respond. She was fading quickly. She was happy though. She had been able to apologize and had been forgiven in return. She had no regrets._

_"Dead." She had stopped playing the violin and was now staring at the crying form hanging over what was once their mother. Her eyes were still just as cold and empty as they always seemed to be and when the other girl noticed this her sadness morphed into anger. _

_"Why? Why were her last words only for you? Why did you say that you forgave her? Why did you come out of your world? If you had just stayed there like you were supposed to she wouldn't be dead right now. Just go back there. Back into the darkness where you belong!" With her last words Rose pushed Ivy out of the room with so much force that she slammed into the wall and then fell to the floor. Before she had time to turn and look back into the room she heard the door slam behind her. She could taste the blood filling her mouth from where her teeth had stabbed the inside of her cheek when she hit the wall. She was so used to much worse pains by now that she just ignored it and began walking down the hallway to her right. _

_She soon reached a large room that was mostly empty. There was nothing but a couch and a fire place. Sitting down on the couch she looked at the ceiling above her. It wasn't really the ceiling that she was looking toward though. There was a trap door that was barely visible unless you already knew it was there. It was the door to her world. The one very few people knew about._

_The sound of the front door opening and closing echoed through the house again and she began to get up as if planning to leave, but seemed to decide against it and sat back down. The sound of crying filled the house as the door to the room she had been thrown out of was opened. The sounds of a man and a girl yelling could be heard, but it was all so jumbled by the echos that it was impossible to understand. It seemed obvious to Ivy though that the man was trying to understand what happened and the girl was blaming her. The sound of stomping footsteps filled the air and within seconds there was a grown man standing in the room with her. _

_The anger on his face was evident as he began to draw closer. It was a sight that Ivy was used to and she simply braced for the impact of his fist. As he got closer she could smell the alcohol on his breath. It was a scent that was all to familiar to her and she knew that this time it was going to be one of the worst ones. The jolt of pain she was expecting never came. Instead there was a strong pressure on her neck. "This is your fault. I told you to make sure she never saw you and you just flat out disobeyed me. She's dead because of you." _

_She felt the pressure get worse and realized this wasn't one of the usual beatings; he actually planned to kill her. Only a few years before she wouldn't have minded, but now she had a promise to keep. She had made a promise to the only person to have ever spoken to her kindly. The only one who had ever done anything with her benefit in mind. He was the one who had given her the name Ivy and asked her to give him one in return. She had never liked names though so she called him by the first thing she noticed about him. Her name for him had simply been Demon. She had made a promise to Demon and had no intention of breaking it. _

_Knowing she wasn't strong enough to break free of his grip she decided on another method to get free. She sucked in as much blood from the injury in her cheek she opened her mouth and spit it into his eye. He instinctively let go of her and brought his hands up to wipe the blood from his eye. She used those few seconds to put as much distance between them as she could and ran through one of the doors leading out of the room. Hearing him behind her she began running faster and turning down random halls. Instinct had taken over and she was no longer thinking rationally. Instead of turning left through a hall that would have led her to the back door she turned right down a hall that led her through the only door connecting the kitchen to the rest of the house._

_When she realized where she was she reached out and grabbed a knife that had been left out on the counter and took a stance in preparation to charge at him when he came through the door. It didn't turn out the way she had hoped though because he had the same idea. As he walked into the kitchen he was already holding the hunting knife he always carried with him. He hid it behind his back until she ran at him. Then he held it out in front of him causing it to go straight through her stomach as she push against it. _

_While she was still stunned by what had happened he turned it to the side and she could feel the blood pouring out. The Jolt of pain brought her back to her senses and she pushed past him and once again began running through the halls. This time she somehow ended up going up the flight of stairs in the entrance hall. Her injury had slowed her down and the incline of the stairs caused her hair to flow out behind her just high enough for him to grab onto. He pulled back sharply and she had to grab onto the railing to keep from falling. She looked back and saw him getting ready to do it again. Just as he was beginning to pull she pulled the knife from her stomach and cut grabbed her hair in a giant clump before slicing through it. The sudden lack of resistance caused him to fall back and tumble down the rest of the stairs. _

_She watched as he slammed down on the ground at the bottom of the stairs. As she began to run back down the stairs she heard crying. Thinking of the girl who had just lost her mother minutes before she knew she couldn't let her lose her father too. It was a pain she had felt a long time before. She ran over to a coat rack by the door and pulled a long black one down. After putting it on and making sure none of the her blood was visible she ran to the room the other girl was in. She grabbed her arm and dragged her to the front door. "What are you doing? Haven't you already caused enough damage for one day?"_

_"Father. Fell. Stairs. Get. Help." She was unable to form the rest of the words but was glad to see her point got across when the other girl frantically looked toward the stairs and then ran out the door. She looked at the man laying on the floor for a few seconds before slowly walking over and prying the hair he was still gripping onto from his hand. Gathering it all up she began walking in the direction of the kitchen. Along the way she threw the clump of hair into the fireplace in the large empty room and lit it. _

_She made it to the kitchen and grabbed a large pot. While it was filling with water she grabbed a rag from under the sink and proceeded to wipe up most of the puddle of her blood that was still on the floor. When the bucket finished filling she pulled it out from under the sink and washed out the rag. She finished cleaning her blood from the kitchen and then went along the path she had taken cleaning up any blood that was left along it. When she reached the entrance she walked up the stairs and grabbed the knife before cleaning up the blood that had begun running down them. She cleaned the knife and slipped it into his pocket before picking up the bucket and walking back to the kitchen. She also threw the rag in the fire along the way. In the kitchen she cleaned out the bucket and the sink. _

_She began walking back to the large empty room for the last time. Her vision had begun blurring when she was still in the kitchen and by now she could barely see anything. The only thing she saw clearly was the trap door that would allow her to return to her own world. She grabbed a metal pole from the corner of the room and used it to push the door open. As the door slid out of the way a rope ladder fell from the opening. After replacing the pole she climbed the ladder. As she pulled it back up she took one last look at the world that she had never belonged in. Then she slide the door closed and allowed herself to be forced into the darkness she had become accustomed to. She pushed a set of shelves over the door so that it would have to be pushed up in order for the door to open. Then,so that she could be sure that the door wouldn't even shift slightly with the amount of force a human could put on it, she filled the shelves with the heaviest boxes she could find and still lift. _

_By now she was crawling across the floor because she could no longer stand on her feet. She made it over to a small blanket that was laid out on the floor. Reaching out and grabbing a small music box she began turning the dial. When she let go it began playing a tune that was obviously for the son London Bridge. She closed her eyes and laid her head down. The smile that spread across her face contrasted the tears streaming from her eyes. She had stopped moving and suddenly there was movement in the other side of the attic. A handsome man in a black suit wearing glasses walked out. He adjusted his glasses with what looked a large amount like a pair of hedge clippers attached to a metal pole._

_"Jane Bell." He read it out of a notebook he pulled out of nowhere. Just as he finished saying it a light started coming from her and suddenly a cinematic real began flashing through the air. He watched it closely before looking back down at the book in his hands. "There are very few people who are actually deserving of heaven. It would seem you are one of them." _

_Suddenly he heard a voice coming from the record. "No. I don't. I have caused at least one death tonight and I was unable to keep my promise. If my option is between here and heaven then I would rather stay here. I believe hell would be the most fitting right now though."_

_"You are incorrect,but if you truly refuse heaven then I suppose you will be staying here until you will accept it." _

_"Thank you. I apologize for causing you trouble." Then her cinematic record started running wild in different directions and eventually hit a small potted plant in the corner of the room. It went into it instead of her body and it suddenly began to grow. When it reached her height it was obvious that it was a red spider lily. It began to morph into a humanoid shape. the stem split into two legs and its roots into feet. The stamens morphed into a torso, arms, and a head. The petals remained as they were and made the skirt of a dress while the upper half came from the stamens as well. Other than that her appearance was exactly the same. _

_"This will cause a large amount of extra paper work."_

_"If you would like I can help you with it. It's the least I can do."_

Ciel and Sebastian looked at each other and then back at the girl in front of them. She had expended most of her energy on showing them the flash back and was now leaning on a wall to keep from falling. "Did that answer your questions?" The two just nodded to her. A small smile crossed her face before she fainted from exhaustion. Sebastian caught her before she hit the ground and proceeded to lift her in his arms bridal style. He turned to face Ciel in an attempt to see what he wished to do about her.

"Bring her. She will be staying with us from now on. When we get back make sure that they know not to disturb her until she wakes up." He turned and began walking out just in time to miss seeing Sebastian smile happily while looking down at the girl he has clutching in his arms.


	5. His Butler, Returning Home

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.**

**Author's Note: Their finally home. Ivy finally meets most of the servants. After this chapter it will start following the story line from the anime. I also might through in some situations from the manga, but I won't follow that story line just because of the fact that it isn't finished yet. I also don't think I will include the second season unless I'm asked to. So I'm thinking about writing an Izaya fanfic too. Comment and rate and tell me what you think of this story so far and if you think I should write an Izaya one. If you have a character you want me to write one for you could also PM me about it. I've gotten partial proof that one person reads these notes! :D**

The trip back to the Phantomhive Manor was made in a roofless carriage with Sebastian driving. Ciel sat facing the front and Sebastian had set Ivy across from him where she had spent the entire time asleep. Ciel noticed that Sebastian seemed to look back more often than usual and realized he was looking at Ivy each time. He thought about saying something but then realized he had been doing the same thing. It wasn't a short trip and he was beginning to get worried because she had not even shown signs of waking up. Just as he was about to reach over and attempt to shake her awake he felt the carriage come to a halt. "We're here." Sebastian called as he stepped down from his place at the front.

After helping Ciel down Sebastian reached over and once again lifted Ivy up bridal style. They entered the house and were immediately noticed by Meyrin who had been cleaning the front room. "Welcome ba-. Oh! Who is that? She looks familiar, but I can't seem to place her." She stared intently at the girl in Sebastian's arms. She was both jealous and curious about why exactly he was holding her. Ciel had already begun walking back to his office. He gestured toward Sebastian in a way to tell him to explain.

"This is Ivy. She will be staying here from now on. She has had quite an exhausting experience and no one is to bother her until tomorrow." He said it with a strong tone of finality before walking to the stairs and turning to say, "Make sure that Bardroy, Finnian, and Tanaka hear those instructions as well." before walking up and entering the hall to the left.

"I must go tell everyone. They'll be so excited, yes they will." Meyrin scurried off to find the other servants and tell them the news.

Sebastian walked into one of the many guest rooms in the house and set Ivy down on the bed. As he pulled the covers over her he leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. When he pulled back he looked down again in time to see her staring up at him. He chuckled lightly. "Such a light sleeper when you want to be. No wonder you're always so tired." She closed her eyes slightly in what he assumed was her tired attempt at a glare."

"I wouldn't have woken up if you hadn't done something strange. I'm always tired because I have a random sleeping pattern." Her voice was still the same monotone he always remembered it being.

"I remember that much. It's nice to see that you haven't really changed much since then. For now you really should get some sleep. It seems fair to assume that you heard Meyrin. Starting tomorrow you'll have quite a few questions to answer; some of which will be to me and the young master."

"I figured. It seems that my stay here will be interesting if nothing else. Is my music box still here?"

"Yes. Now sleep." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek once again before walking out of the room. She listened until she heard him speaking with Ciel. Then she got up and began to look at her surroundings. The room was mostly empty with just the bed a desk and a chair. There was also a walk in closet and a bathroom connected to it. There was a large set of doors with windows making up most of their surface area that led to a balcony. Walking silently across the room she opened the doors and walked out.

She looked down at the garden outside and noticed a young boy with messy blonde hair. Assuming he was the gardener she continued watching as he went through watering the plants. He seemed rather clumsy to her and she began to laugh when he began running around in circles making a face as if he was about to get in trouble. It was an action she hadn't done in a long time and she soon felt the muscles in her face hurt from the action. Her sides were hurting too but she couldn't bring herself to stop and even began laughing harder when she saw why he was so afraid. In the area of the garden he had been working in before his panic started there was a tree leaning to the side and slowly falling.

She finally managed to calm down and looked back to where the boy had been. Now instead of running around frantically he was looking up at her and blushing slightly. "Hi. I'm Ivy. Do you need some help?" She had gone back to her monotone and he wasn't sure how to respond to the change in character. When he finally managed to come to his senses again he called out his response to her.

"I'm Finnian. You can call me Finny though. I actually could use some help." He was laughing nervously and scratching the back of his head. She just shrugged and jumped over the railing. She landed on her feet directly in front of him causing him to take a few steps back out of shock.

"You were scared because you knocked that tree down right?" She pointed toward the tree that was almost completely sideways now. He nodded in response and she walked over to the tree. Standing next to it she began lifting it up. When the point that she had grabbed onto was taller than her she stood beneath it and began pushing it up while strategically moving forward as it got straighter and straighter until the tree was righted. Then she began pushing dirt in and around the area where the roots were. When she was done she turned to look at Finny. "Better?" His mouth was hanging open out of surprize but he nodded his head.

Once again she just shrugged and walked away. This time she went into the house. She walked straight to the kitchen. Glad she still seemed to remember where everything was it took her a few seconds to see the smoke filling the top part of the room. Looking around for the origin of the smoke she noticed a blonde man with a cigarette in his mouth. He was throwing a bucket of water into the oven and then nearly jumped over the counter when the fire spread. "Did you use oil in whatever is burning?" Her voice was shaky from the laughter that was once again threatening to erupt from her.

"Yeah. So. What difference should that make?"

"Well an oil fire only spreads when you put water on it. You have to cut of any air going to it." She walked over and grabbed the door of the oven. Closing it she turned in time to see the man giving her a horrified look. Choosing to ignore it she decided she would probably have to wait for a while before opening the oven again. "I'm Ivy by the way. Not a random ghost putting out your fires for you." He calmed down when he heard her and even smiled slightly.

"I'm Bardroy I'm the cook, not some random person lightin' the kitchen on fire." Not wanting to laugh again Ivy only allowed a smile to cross her face. Then after a few seconds turned and opened the oven again. This time there was no fire, but she did get hit in the face by a huge puff of black smoke. She started coughing and simply wished Bardroy luck while walking out.

_That's two. When they were talking it sounded like there are four servants here. Two more to go. _She thought to herself as she walked through the halls. She decided to simply wander around until she ran into one of them. It didn't take nearly as long as she had thought. As she was turning a corner she suddenly bumped into someone. Before she had time to respond both of them were on the floor and a bucket of water was flying through the air. The water spilled on her and then the bucket landed on the ground next to them.

"I'm so sorry miss. I wasn't looking where I was going." She recognized this voice as belonging to the woman she heard Sebastian speak to earlier. This time she was once again unable to hold in her laughter and within seconds was holding her sides in pain. She managed to calm down much faster than the first time and looked at the woman who she had run into. She had pink hair and think glasses. Both of them were still on the ground, but the woman quickly got up and picked the bucket up. She reached her hand out to help Ivy up but she declined it and stayed where she was.

"Sorry, but can I just sit here for a few seconds. I've been laughing so hard today that it hurts and I need a break. By the way I'm Ivy." She was still gripping her sides and she was putting all of her energy into not laughing again.

"I'm Meyrin. I'm the maid here. You're the girl who Mr. Sebastian carried in earlier, but he said that you were supposed to be resting." Her still had a tiny bit of the jealousy in it from earlier. Ivy put a finger in front of her mouth and started whispering as if telling a secret.

"Shh. I was, but I woke up and wanted to explore and meet everyone. I've already met Garden, Cigarette, and now you. Who else is there and do you know where I can find them?"

"I'm guessing that Garden and Cigarette are Finny and Bard so the only other person is Tanaka, but he is helping with some promotion for the Funtom company and won't be back until tomorrow."

"I see. Well I should probably get back to my room before Demon or Shorty see me."

"It's much too late for that Ivy. Meyrin you should be getting back to work." Sebastian came walking toward them as he spoke. As soon as he finished Meyrin suddenly remembered what she had been doing and scurried of to refill the bucket and finish her cleaning. When she was out of sight he looked down at Ivy who was still sitting on the floor. "What have you been up to? You're covered in dirt and soap water and your clothes are burned."

She hadn't even noticed her appearance until he said that. She once again had to hold in laughter as she looked at herself. Standing up she looked at him. "I've been meeting the other servants. Something tells me this wasn't out of the usual for them."

"If your refering to them causing trouble then you'd be correct." He looked annoyed as he thought back to everything they had done. As they walked back to her room he realized that she had just been through one of each of their mistakes and chuckled at the thought. When they made it back to her room she began walking to the bed. He stopped her before she made it. "You can't go to bed like that. You'll have to take a bath first or you'll track mud into your bed." She puffed her cheek out as a sign of irritation, and he couldn't help but think that the action was a bit childish compared to her usual demenor.

"I haven't got any clothes to change into though, and I'm really tired."

"The closet over there is full of clothes that you can wear. As far as being tired you should have thought of that before you went wandering the house."

"Fine. I'll take a bath, but you have to let me sleep as long as I want."She walked to the closet and pulled out a change of clothes. She waited for him to walk out of the room before locking the bedroom door then walking into the bathroom and locking that door behind her. _Hopefully this will keep any of his annoying 'accidents' from happening at least. Something tells me this is going to be a long stay._


	6. His Butler, Reasoning

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.**

**Author's Note: So as I've said before my computer hates my guts and that's why I didn't update yesterday. So for this chapter I had wanted to mix two together but my computer wouldn't allow it so it's just one. Sorry. When I posted this chapter I also realized that all of them start with "His Butler, R..." which was actually entirely unintentional, but it was entertaining to me so I had to say something. I'm sorry if Sebastian seems OOC in this chapter. Starting next chapter it will begin to follow the story line of the anime starting after the point when Madam Red dies. Please comment, rate and enjoy the story.**

The sun had long since gone down and everyone but Sebastian was asleep. He was making his usual rounds of the house and looking for anything out of order. More specifically he was looking for the source of the constant sounds of pages turning that he had been hearing since about noon. His first assumption was that a window was left open in the library, but that was quickly proven wrong with a quick look into it. While inside he did notice that a large number of books were missing.

He finally pinpointed the source as he stood in front of a room containing the young girl that he had already become accustomed to having to check on constantly even though it was still her first day there. As he opened the door he saw Ivy sitting on the floor surrounded by the missing books from the library. She was repeating a pattern of picking up a random book from the piles on her right, flipping through the pages just slow enough for her to get a look at every page, and then putting it down in on of the piles to her left before starting the pattern over with a new book. Most people would just assume that she was searching for something inside one of the books, but he knew otherwise.

"I thought you had said you would be going to sleep after bathing, but instead you're wide awake reading. If you continue like that you'll be out of books and exhausted soon."

"I never said that I would be going to sleep. Only implied it. As far as being out of books you're too late." She responded coldly as she placed another book on the pile closest to her and picked up the last book in her unread pile. Looking at the cover he realized it was a German to English dictionary. Within seconds she had reached the back cover. He waited for her to put the book down and look at him before speaking again.

"I seem to recall you behaving in a similar way to this before. A few times actually. It seems that it always happened after you got emotional. You always immediately locked yourself away with books and manuscripts of any kind until you were so tired that you once again became numb to everything. Each time I wondered why but never bothered asking. I suppose now is a good time to try. So, why do you do such a strange thing?"

"I will choose information over emotion any day. Emotions are such useless things, and they always cause me more harm than good in the end. If I do this in time to drown it out then it won't cause any harm to me. I was caught off guard by the servants antics when I went to meet them and that caused me to laugh. It hurt. It still does. I refuse to let it happen again. If I have enough information cluttering my mind it becomes difficult for such a thing to happen." As she attempted to explain her reasoning she began putting the books into neat piles so that she could pick them up easier later on.

"I see. What information have you managed to gain with all of your work then?"

"The lord and lady Phantomhive are deceased due to a fire at the house. The only remaining staff member from their time is the butler. Their son has become the new earl and taken over the duties that went along with it. His new servants consist of a gardener who doesn't know his own strength, a cook who is impatient with everything, and a maid who is extremely far-sighted. All of them often cause trouble because of these attributes. There is also the butler who is a demon that the young earl has a contract with and who is usually forced to fix the mistakes of the other servants. The library also has a large collection of books fitting into all genres. The fiction books consist of J-" Sebastian cut her off by raising his hand. When he had asked the question he was expecting a vague response and was slightly taken back by her answer.

She had spoken without taking a single breath and was now trying to make up for it by breathing in deeply. He took this chance to speak again. "I have many more questions, but for now I believe I will leave it at one more. Why did you choose to go meet them rather than sleeping as you were supposed to be?"

"You told me that they would have questions for me tomorrow. I decided I would attempt to control what some of them would be. With enough luck they'll spend so much time pondering the ones I put in their heads that they will forget their old questions and not have time to make new ones." She picked up a large pile of books and attempted to walk past him and out the door. Before she made it he stuck his arm out to block the way.

"Where do you intend to go now?"

""If you can't figure that out on your own then you're not nearly as smart as I thought. I'm going to put the books back where I got them from." His eyebrow twitched in annoyance at her insult but he decided to let it slide for now.

"You know that's not what I meant. You aren't going anywhere except to bed right now. I'll return the books while you get some sleep." As he spoke he took the books from her hands and set them back in their place on the floor before picking her up and carrying her to the bed. After setting her down he walked over to the books and picked up a stack in each hand and walked out the door. When she was sure he had moved out of the hall she once again got out of bed. She picked up the remaining books and also left her room; turning in the other direction as him of course.

In the library Sebastian put the last book in its place and headed back to Ivy's room to get the rest. Walking into the room he immediately noticed that she was no longer in her bed. He looked at the spot where the other stack of books had been and sighed. As he made his way back to the library he noticed a small amount of movement at the end of the hall. Picking up his pace he had reached the point where the movement had been and looked down another hall and the movement was much closer than it had been. He almost immediately caught up to it.

"Ivy, I told you to go to sleep. Regardless of how you behave you are still human and humans need sleep or they get ill. How did you get past me anyway?"

"I know I'm human and need sleep. It's not my fault my schedule it so messed up. And I got past you because disappearing is what I'm good at. If I couldn't travel a house like this without being seen then I wouldn't be considered very talented, now would I?" He thought about pointing out the fact that he had seen her and that's how this conversation started but decided against it. Instead he just sighed and picked her up again. Realizing this was the fourth time that day that he had carried her he smiled slightly. She saw it but just decided to distract herself by looking at the paintings on the wall. Some were new but most of them had been there when she lived in the house.

After a few minutes she realized that it seemed to be taking a really long time for them to make it back to her room. She looked at the pictures again in an attempt to learn where they were. It didn't take long for her to place them on the opposite side of the house from where her room was. She looked at Sebastian who seemed to have noticed her sudden realization.

"We're taking a detour around the house. You didn't seem bothered by the idea of avoiding going to bed before so I assumed it would be the same now. Plus I needed payback for your insults earlier." He smiled down at her. She just looked back to the paintings deciding to wait it out. His smile faded when he didn't get the reaction he was hoping for and he decided to just take her back to her room.

They made it back and he set her in her bed for what he hoped would be the last time that night. This time instead of leaving after pulling her blankets over her he sat down on the edge of the bed. Confusion flashed across her face for a few seconds, but it faded almost instantly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm simply making sure you don't leave your bed again. Considering the way you've been behaving the easiest assumption is that as soon as I leave if you are still awake you will just get out of bed again so I've decided to stay here until you've fallen asleep." As he spoke he moved his hand to the side of her head and began slowly running his fingers through his hair then continuously repeating the action. She really didn't want to fall asleep but the feeling of his fingers running through her hair was extremely calming to her. He continued until her heard her breathing slow down and was sure she was asleep. Beginning to stand he felt a small tug at his tail coat and realized that at some point in time she had latched onto it.

Rather than removing her hands and risking waking her up he chose to just sit back down on her bed. Out of lack of anything better to do he found himself staring down at her and thinking about how much more peaceful she seemed when she slept. Less than an hour had passed when he noticed her facial expression begin to change. The grip on his tail coat tightened and he realized she was having a nightmare. He reached out to wake her up but before he got the chance she shot up in the bed with her eyes wide open and fear apparent in them.

As she looked at her surroundings she calmed down. She looked at him and then without a word laid back down and shut her eyes. A soft smile spread across his lips as he reached out and began running his fingers through her hair again with the hopes of getting her to fall back asleep. Just as she began fading again she said something that shocked Sebastian and caused him to stop his repeated action. "I told you emotions are troublesome." She fell asleep almost as soon as she finished her statement. He quickly regained his composure and continued to run his finger through her hair even though he knew she was fast asleep by now.

"It depends on the emotions." He knew she wouldn't hear him. In fact that was how he'd prefer it. Hours passed and Sebastian just sat there running his fingers through her hair until the sun rose and he had to leave and make preparations for the day.


	7. His Butler, Restless

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.**

**Author's Note: So I've made it to the anime chapters. I probably won't go in-depth with any of the descriptions of characters or events from the show. Just enough that it makes sense. Please comment and rate. Criticism is welcome. **

"Holiday. Holiday. We're going on a Holiday."The three overly excited servants sang. Ivy was just about to try to tune them out but stopped when she heard Sebastian begin to speak to her.

"Are you enjoying the fact that I refused to allow you to sit with them yet?"

"I can still hear them clearly. Where I'm sitting really has no effect on whether or not they manage to irritate me." She didn't really sound irritated to him, and he assumed that she meant that she could just as easily have put up with them while sitting next to them as she was doing from a distance. Ciel came to the same conclusion, but neither of them said anything about it. She began staring into the distance only slightly paying attention to the conversations going on around her.

"I couldn't leave them there alone. I might come home to find the Manor in shambles." Ciel sounded exhausted just thinking about it.

"Indeed."

"Most likely" She continued staring into the distance now completely ignoring everything being said until the carriage came to a stop. Tunning back in she began looking at her surroundings. There was a sign marking the edge of Houndsworth and a tree full of dog collars. The thing that really caught her attention was the many animal skeletons scattered all over the ground. Curious as to what type she began to wonder if she would get in trouble for getting out and picking one up. _Probably. I'm pretty sure based on the other things around here their dog skeletons. Maybe the place we will be staying is close enough that I can just walk back later and look at them._

"Oh yes. I forgot to mention something. The resort the queen is planning has yet to be constructed."

_He really hasn't changed much. He still does his best to be a brat. It would be strange if he acted any other way though. _She thought while still looking away.

_"A holiday young master? In this season?"_

_"Yes. Indeed. Tell me something. Have you ever heard of a pastime called bear baiting."_

_"The notion does sound entertaining, but I'm afraid I've not heard of it. Indulge me sir." Ivy who had been leaning back in a chair near the door now leaned forward and listened intently to Ciel's explanation of bear baiting and what it later evolved into. intrigued by what she was hearing she only took her eyes off of him when she heard Sebastian respond with, "It sounds like something only a human would come up with." Then she instantly looked back at Ciel for the rest of the story._

I'll get him back for taking a shot at humans later. _Was her only thought given to anything other than what she was hearing about bear baiting._

_"They use dogs to attack 's see. Would that be dog baiting?"_

Was that some kind of joke?_ She went back to listening as Ciel began explaining the reason that the queen wanted them to go to Houndsworth._

Somehow Ivy became so interested in finding shapes in the fog that she managed to miss everything that happened around her until she heard Meyrin screaming something about hurting a baby. "There's no baby." She mumbled to herself in a volume so low that Ciel barely heard it. He didn't realize exactly what she had said until after Finny had dropped the stroller and the old woman walked away. He turned to face her.

"How did you know?" There was obvious curiosity in his voice. Glancing at him she just shrugged and looked back into the fog.

"Magic." It was the best answer she cared to give and it was just as good as any other one she could have chosen. In fact it was an answer she gave to that question quite often. Most of the time she knew things she shouldn't have and just as often she couldn't explain why. Her answer really hadn't satisfied, but he knew it was the best that he would get and just turned to face forward again.

She continued to look at the fog until her view was obstructed by buildings. As she heard dogs barking around her she began to feel like her ears would start bleeding any second. She thought about covering her ears, but at the same moment Sebastian began explaining the reasons that he hates dogs. Hearing a description that sounded amazingly familiar to her she decided now was a good time to get her revenge for his earlier shot at humans.

"It seems like you would understand a dogs actions more than any of us considering your description for dogs manages to fit pretty well with one for demons. It's made even worse for you since right now you're going by the name of one of Ciel's old ones." The insult was made even worse by the fact that her monotone voice made it sound as if it was meant to be serious. The irritation coming off of the demon was so thick it was almost suffocating, and then she heard a "woof" from beside her and instantly gave Ciel a thumbs up enjoying the fact that he had managed to make Sebastian even more irritated.

The three of them were silent the rest of the way and she finally sensed his irritation fade almost completely as they pulled up to the castle. Almost. _I'm gonna pay for that later, but it was completely worth it. _She made the decision to stay with the servants and help them unpack rather than going in with Ciel and Sebastian to meet Lord Barrymore. When they finished with their discussion she decided to ask Ciel how it went while Angela left to find the others. "What happened? Did you make the deal?" She only sounded slightly interested, but he answered anyway.

"It started with him calling me a chihuahua and Sebastian a Doberman. Then he refused to sell the castle due to some curse that's been put on it." She assumed that he only added the first sentence to see if she would continue her insult to Sebastian, and she probably would have had she not been stuck on what he said right before that.

"Chihuahua?" She tilted her head to the side as she spoke. Based on the looks she got from them she assumed that they had given the same response. After that she decided to explore the castle and if she couldn't find anything interesting to do she would explore the village. _Maybe I can go back and get one of those skeletons. I'm sure now that they're dog bones, but if I take one I'm sure I could find a use for it later on. Maybe just the fact that I decided to keep a dog skeleton would be enough to annoy Demon even more than I already have._ She was still wandering the castle by nightfall and decided to just go to her room rather than wander through the village.

As she made it to her room she heard Angela screaming about a curse and then Ciel yell something to Sebastian. Looking out her window she saw a long stripe of something that was glowing green. By the time she made it outside everyone else was already there along with the villagers. They walked into the village and up to a dead body covered in bite marks. She began searching the area for any reapers. _I suppose I shouldn't have expected to see any in such a crowded place. A job like this would only be given to efficient reapers anyway. Oh well. _

She turned to face the crowd pf people who were now doing some kind of chant and taking the body watched until they were out of eyesight. Then she followed the others back to the castle.

That night she was woken up by a nightmare. She looked at the clock hanging on the wall opposite her. _Exactly three in the morning; same as only I could remember what it was about. Maybe then I could get it to stop happening. _She got out of bed and began searching for something to entertain herself with until everyone else woke up.

The next day when they went to swim she chose to walk around the edge of the water instead. She made sure that the water never touched her for no real reason other than to have something to focus on. The constant lack of sleep was beginning to wear away at her and she was sure that if she sat still for too long she would be fast asleep and risk waking up from the nightmare in front of people. There would be too many questions she either couldn't answer or didn't want to at that point. There was also the fact that Sebastian had yet to get his revenge and he wasn't one to let such an insult go so easily.

She had made sure to stay on the far side from where everyone else was and randomly sit down and make something in the sand so that it looked to them like she was just trying to find good places to do so. It was during one of these moments that she felt a presence beside her. Even without looking she knew it was Sebastian. "Are you not going to swim Ivy?"

"I didn't bring anything to swim in. It's okay though. I'd just burn anyway." Having finished her small castle she stood up and began walking again. From the other side it had looked like she was just trying to avoid the water, but now he could see that she was staggering and having a hard time walking straight.

"You seem unwell. Have you been avoiding falling asleep again?"

"No." She wasn't lying. She had been going to sleep. It wasn't her fault she couldn't stay asleep. He raised an eyebrow easily seeing through her.

"Then why are you so tired? Lying while half asleep won't work very well for you."

"I haven't lied. Even if I had it's none of your business if I'm tired or not, but since I'm sure you won't give up without an explaination I'll give you one. I haven't been able to sleep much. That's not saying I haven't tried though." Once again she stopped and sat on the ground. Her movements were slow as she drew a childish attempt at a flower in the sand. He noticed that she seemed to be exhausted as she stood up and he reached out to help her. She seemed dizzy and he realized it was more than just one or two nights that she hadn't slept.

"How many nights have you not been able to sleep?"

"How long have I been living at the Manor. A little longer than that. I did get a good night sleep the first night I was there though."

"The only thing that interrupted your sleep then was that nightmare. Based on that I'm assuming the same thing happens every night and you simply choose not to fall back asleep. Am I correct?"

"Sounds about right. Shouldn't you be taking care of shorty right now?" She didn't really care, but she was sure if she let him think about what he'd just figured out he would find some way to use it against her later. He looked back at where Ciel was sitting.

"This conversation isn't over." He turned and began walking back to where his master was. The idea of leaving her alone in the state she was in wasn't something he was a fan of, but she was right. Even as he spoke to Ciel he kept an eye on her. Because of this he noticed that she had started splashing water on her face every time she sat down to make something. By the time Ciel sent him to gather information and evidence she had started to look more awake and he felt less uncomfortable leaving her unmonitored. She noticed that he had left didn't really care why.

When everyone ended up getting chained up because Finny had stopped the villagers dogs from attacking the one that was chained up. she just watched from a distance. As Sebastian started explaining she nearly fell over asleep due to how exhausted she was and didn't hear a word of it.

By the time that they were back in the castle she could barely stand. Her room was upstairs and she was sure that she would trip if she tried to go up so she just wandered the ground floor until she found a library. Taking a seat at a table in the back she put her head down on the the table and fell asleep. She was woken up by a scream from downstairs that she recognized as Meyrin's. She didn't bother to go see what was happening and instead just fell back asleep.

It was only after she was once again woken up by a knocking at the front door and a large amount of yelling that her curiosity was finally peaked enough to get her to get up and go see what was happening. She followed everyone out into the village and ignored the annoyed look she was getting from Sebastian the entire time. She just stared blankly at the chanting villagers and watched as Sebastian walked up to examine the body. She didn't even bother to look when Angela fainted. Instead she just turned and walked back to the castle.

The nap she had taken earlier gave her enough energy to make it to her room this time. Rather than go to sleep immediately she made a decision to wait. _It always happens at three so maybe if I wait til after then it won't._ That was the only thought she had on the subject before making her mind up. She should have known that wasn't going to happen. Shortly after deciding that she heard a knock at the door. Already knowing who it was she didn't bother responding. Just as she had known he would he came in anyway.

"You said before that you always at least tried to sleep, but that doesn't appear to be what you are doing." There was a hint of annoyance in his voice that she could barely pick up on and she was sure she was about to see what he had planned for his revenge. "You should have stayed here to sleep rather than following us out to the village."

"There's a lot of things I should have done. That doesn't mean I feel bad for not doing them. I was curious so I went to see what was happening. I have a reason for not trying to sleep too. My nightmares are always at three in the morning so if I fall asleep after then maybe they won't happen." A hint of a tone saying that it was worth a shot managed to show through her normal one.

"No. If you do that then you'll get less sleep then if you slept only until you had the nightmare. There wouldn't be a point in it." She just shrugged and moved to a bookshelf against a wall in order to find something to do until she chose to sleep. Of course Sebastian wouldn't allow that and chose to use the same tactic he had on her first day with them. He walked over to where she was and picked her up. Putting her on the bed he pulled the covers over her before sitting on the edge with his hand on the side of her head.

"What are you doing? The point in it is that I won't have to have the nightmare. Maybe if I break the cycle it will stop happening." She moved his hand away and sat up. at first he just stared at her and she wasn't sure if he was angry or just thinking.

"Then consider this revenge for the yesterday." There was a teasing tone in his voice as he gently pushed her back until she was once again laying down. This time when he put his hand on her head he wouldn't allow her to push it away. He began running his hands through her hair like he had the first day. Slowly the hand that had grabbed his arm and was trying to push it away relaxed as she began to drift off to sleep.

"Not fair." It was all she said before she fell into a deep sleep. This time instead of stopping he stayed where he was and continued running his fingers through her hair. He occasionally looked up to see what time it was. When three came around he waited but she never woke up. He smiled down at her and continued even after the sun came up until he had to wake Ciel up.


	8. His Butler, Dreaming

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.**

**Author's Note: Ha! I bet you expected the chapter title to begin with an R, but as I said before that was actually unintentional so you should have seen this coming. So not much actually happened in this episode of Kuroshitsuji so most of this chapter is just stuff I had already planned to use in making a filler chapter later, but it is important to the story line so by filler I don't mean like an OVA. Sorry if characters are OOC. Just so you know most of the interaction between Sebastian and Ivy happen at night or early in the morning because from what I know there are very few other times when he is not with Ciel or fixing other servants mistakes. Comment, rate, and enjoy the story.**

After waking Ciel up and giving him his breakfast Sebastian left to wake Ivy up. He had given her more than an hour to sleep in assuming that she would not want to wake up at nine as she usually did. He arrived at her room and chose to knock before going in just in case she had woken up at some point. Getting no response he opened the door and went inside only to find exactly what he was expecting. She was still curled up on her bed fast asleep.

He attempted to wake her by opening the curtains, but she just groaned and turned to face away from the light. That told him that she wasn't in a deep sleep, but also wouldn't be easy to wake. He thought for a few seconds about different ways he could attempt to wake her. Deciding on a method he walked over to the side of the bed that she was now facing and crouched down and leaned forward so that his face was level with hers. He reached out and lightly grabbed her shoulder and began trying to shake her awake. She just squirmed away from his touch and chose to ignore his presence. Already having assumed that would be her response he then leaned forward so that his face was at most two inches away from hers. "I'll give you until I count to five to get up. If you don't then I'll be forced to use a different method to wake you."

_He's too close. _She attempted to move away from him but he had put his hand on her side keeping her from moving. _I really don't want to know what he's about to do, but I'm too tired to get up. I wonder if he'll consider it enough if I just open my eyes. Probably not, but I guess it's worth a shot. _

"Two." She had missed him say one while she was contemplating what to do. That's what she chose to assume anyway. It seemed just as likely to her that he had chosen to skip it.

"Three." Opening her eyes she realized exactly how close he had gotten and once again tried to move back until she was stopped by the hand on her side. Mustering all the strength she could in her half asleep state she tried to push his arm away. All she got in return for her efforts was a smirk.

"Opening your eyes isn't enough. I will only move my hand if you start trying to get up." She responded by staring at him for a few seconds before continuing to try to get out of his grasp. It didn't hurt or even feel slightly uncomfortable to her, but she didn't like how close he was. He responded by shrugging to show her that he had given her a chance before leaning slightly closer. "Four." He was so close she felt she needed a barrier. For lack of any other options she grabbed a pillow and put it over her face.

"You're a horrible person." She mumbled it into her pillow and if he was sure that if he was human he may not even have heard it much less understood it. He hadn't expected her to do such a thing, but it only caused his smirk to widen. He had made the right choice when deciding between tactics. Just by invading her space he was able to make her uncomfortable enough to start waking up. There were definitely faster ways to get her up, but this was the most entertaining out of all of them.

"How unfair." Grabbing the pillow with the hand that wasn't holding her in place he easily removed it from her tired grasp. "Five." Without giving her any time to react he leaned forward until his lips touched her cheek within a centimeter of her mouth. He stayed in that position for a few more seconds before moving away. She responded by reaching up and rubbing her cheek until it turned red in an attempt to wipe it away. Chuckling lightly to himself he leaned forward and did it again. Once again she reached up and rubbed it off. Wanting to see how many times she would have the same reaction he leaned forward once again and repeated the action.

"Why do you keep doing that?" She practically whined as she rubbed her cheek again.

"I warned you that I'd do something if you refused to get up by the time I counted to five. Are you going to get up now or would you prefer I do it again?" There was amusement in his voice and she was slightly annoyed when she realized that he got his way regardless of what she did; though she assumed he would prefer she chose the second option.

"You never said that you'd do it three times in a row." She was stalling to avoid having to decide whether staying in bed was worth the constant intrusion of her space that he was threatening her with.

"I had only planned on doing it once, but I enjoyed you reaction. Now I need an answer. Will you get up or do I get to do it again?" As he spoke he leaned forward just in case she assumed he was joking.

"Fine I'll get up. Now will you move your hand?" He released her and stood up long enough for her to sit up on the bed before sitting on the bed effectively blocking her from laying back down. Slowly she turned until her legs were over the edge of the bed and her feet were touching the floor. Now that she was moving Sebastian could tell that she looked almost as tired as she had the day before. He waited until she stood up and grabbed a change of clothes before leaving.

As he stood next to his master Sebastian began to think about the events of the night. More specifically Ivy's nightmare, or more her lack of one. He had spent the first night with her too doing almost exactly the same thing yet she had still had one then. She wasn't one to lie so he knew that she must have actually been having them. Then he remembered another thing that had happened on the first day. "She can be quiet the light sleeper when she wants to be." He didn't realize that he had said it out loud until Ciel looked at him.

"What?"

"Nothing of importance." By the sound of Ciels voice it was obvious he hadn't heard what his butler said. He just shrugged it off and continued eating. Sebastian was careful not to let himself accidentally speak again. _She didn't have the dream because she wasn't in a deep enough sleep. She most likely waited until three to fall completely asleep. That is assuming she ever actually did. Well at least that explains why she was so tired and determined to stay asleep. _As he was thinking about this he missed just about everything the other four servants were talking about. He knew that it started with Finny and Meyrin yelling something about not being able to find Angela, but that was the last thing he had bothered to listen to.

"Come on Sebastian, lets go help him."

"Well uh." He wasn't entirely sure who they were helping or with what and couldn't think of a response.

Ivy had been walking past the room when she saw Finnian run out and then Meyrin, Bard, and Tanaka shortly after. Having nothing better to do she followed quietly behind them. As they made it farther away from the village the fog became extremely thick and she was glad she had practiced finding and recognizing shapes in it on the way there a few days before. She stood in the background as the servants ran into a giant dog and tried to fight it. From her place a short distance away she saw Sebastian and Ciel appear.

When Sebastian began training it using a rapidly switching reward and punishment technique she walked up to stand with the rest of the group. She watched all of their faces switch between confused to amazed and back to confused until she heard a loud crash and everyone began walking up to a giant hole in the ground wondering if he was okay. Everyone except for her ran away from the hole as they noticed water rising out of it. She just took a few steps back and didn't even flinch when the hot water began raining down on her. "Ivy! What're you doin'? Get away from it before the water burns you." She turned and walked in the direction that she heard Bard's voice in. She was already surrounded by steam making it difficult to see.

"Too late." Was all she said as she walked up to the crowd of people. She looked up and joined them in watching Sebastian's grand entrance from the top of the water. Angela showed up and requested that Sebastian take Pluto with him. Ivy couldn't resist her chance to get back at the demon for that morning. She leaned over to whisper in Ciel's ear. "You should make him accept the deal. It would be a good way to mess with him." She was sure Sebastian heard her because he glared slightly in her direction. When Ciel actually took her advice and made him accept his glare became stronger, but not toward her. He had turned his attention to his master and she wasn't sure how she should feel about the fact that he was more angry at Ciel for going with the idea than he was at her for offering it.

Soon they were back at the Phantomhive Manor and Ivy grabbed her things and went straight to her room locking the door behind her. Within minutes she had changed clothes, moved to the bed, and crawled under the covers. She had no intentions of getting a full night worth of deep sleep, but instead planned to do as she had the night before and just rest until after three and then fall asleep completely. Just as she got comfortable she heard a small knocking and then the click of the lock turning. _Why does he have to have keys to every room in the house. That seems like something only the maid would be given. _

Hearing footsteps moving closer to her she just scooted farther away from the side of the bed he was on. Shortly after she had started living there she had moved her bed to the corner of the room so that only the bottom and side closest to the door were accessible. Now she was against the wall so that he wouldn't be able to reach her easily. Just to be safe she faced the wall and pulled the covers over her head."Go away."

"How unkind. I only came in to see if you need anything to help you sleep better considering you only got any good sleep after about three last night." He saw her begin to figet under the covers for a few seconds while trying to decide what to say.

"No I don't need anything. Go away."

"I will think about leaving if you take the covers off of your head and come back over here. The young master is already in bed so I have until morning before I have to leave."

"Then stay. It doesn't matter I'm still not going over there." She even tried to move farther away as she spoke.

"At least move the cover away then. I promise I won't do anything this time. If you move the cover on your own that is. If I end up being the one to move it I won't promise anything." As he spoke he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"No. I don't believe you."

"I see. Well I did give you a chance." He grabbed the top of the covers and gently pulled them down so that they only reached her shoulders. He was slightly upset to see that as he did this she curled up even more and turned so he couldn't see her face. He knew her well enough to be sure that no matter what he said right now she wouldn't listen to him. So instead of speaking he decided to force her to pay attention. He moved the covers completely away from her and leaned over to pick her up.

Before she even realized what was happening he had already moved her from her spot on the bed into his lap with his arms around her waist so that she couldn't escape. That didn't stop her from trying of course. She fought against his grip for what felt like forever but in reality was probably only a few minutes before she gave up and leaned back from lack of energy. When he was sure she was done he began to speak to her.

"Do you remember what we used to do when you couldn't sleep?" She gave him a confused look.

"You took me to the garden after everyone fell asleep and let me do whatever I wanted until either I tired myself out or someone in the house woke up. Why?" He was smiling as if having a good memory before suddenly releasing her waist and picking her up.

"Because the last person in the house other than you just fell asleep." He walked out the door without allowing her to change clothes or even put on socks or shoes. It was intentional though. If he had allowed her time to do either then she would want him to put her down so she could walk around by herself for awhile and he didn't want that to happen. She was already tired so there was no need. He was doing this for the purpose of seeing her reactions to him bringing up the past. He had something he wanted to ask her about and if she wanted nothing to do with past events then he would have to put off asking it until later.

They made it out to the garden and he got a part of the reaction that he wanted. It was cold outside so the first thing she did was lean against him for warmth and he tightened his grip around her to bring her even closer than she already was. He waited to see if she would do anything. Getting no response he assumed it was alright and continued walking into the garden with her. At first the two talked about the different types of plants that were there. After a while she got tired of responding and he just carried her through the garden in silence.

Soon he felt her head hit his chest and he looked down to see she was asleep. Deciding that it would be a good time to walk back to the Manor he turned around. When they were back in her room he wanted to be sure that she was actually sleeping soundly rather than ready to wake up at any second. He lightly touched her cheek in the same place he had kissed it that morning and left his hand there for a few seconds before moving it away. When she gave no reaction to his touch he smiled slightly before walking over to the bed to set her down. He put her down, but when he tried to stand up straight he realized that she had grabbed onto his tail coat before she fell asleep and now continued to hold onto it. He could have easily pulled her hands away but chose instead to sit down and pull her onto his lap. She would let go at three anyway so he saw no need to make her do so now.

As he sat there waiting for her to wake up he began tracing out his pentagram on her back; right where he knew it was. She had asked for that location specifically because she thought it would be easy for her to hide. It seemed to him that she was correct about that. Unfortunately the entire thing wasn't there yet. She was still not entirely his yet. At the rate things were going she never would be and that was the biggest annoyance he had to deal with right now. He suddenly remembered his question for her but didn't want to wake her up. _I suppose I will just have to wait. _He wrapped his arms around her and without even realizing it he began running his fingers through her hair as he waited for her to wake up.


	9. His Butler, Contracts

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.**_

**Author's Note: Wow, adding in flashbacks makes chapters much longer. Ivy and Sebastian's past is finally somewhat revealed and Finny gets in trouble. So a lot has been going on and I will most likely not be updating as often anymore. It will probably be once to twice a week instead of me trying to update every day. Well comment, rate, and enjoy the story.**_**  
**_

_He watched as the child's eyes widened in amazement. It was the first time he had ever seen any emotion spread across her face. "Demon, what kind of plant is this? That one too, and that one." She spoke in a voice so quiet he could barely hear her. He knew it wasn't intentional though. She was simply unable to speak any louder. He followed her pale form through the garden while patiently explaining what each type of plant was._

_She darted down path after path exploring with no real destination. Even while running at fast pace she managed to leave no trace that she had ever been there. Her footsteps made no sound and no footprints were left behind. She truly was just a ghost of what she might have been had she been allowed to live in the same way as everyone else. Her white hair flowed out behind her reveling her deep red eyes which only added to her ghostly appearance. _

_She suddenly came to a halt in front of the brick wall that surrounded the garden. Pointing forward she turned her head to the side so she was looking at him. "What's that one?" He followed her finger to a plant that was clinging to the wall. _

_"That one is called ivy."_

_"Why is it trying to escape?" It took him a few seconds to understand what she meant._

_"It isn't trying to escape. Ivy grows by clinging to walls, trees, and other structures in order to hold itself up." She leaned forward and said something to the plant that he didn't hear. A few seconds later she looked back at him._

_"It says that it's holding the wall up, not the other way around." He raised an eyebrow at her strange response. It wasn't like her to make things up._

_"Plants do not speak. They have no mouths or vocal cords to allow them to do so."_

_"I have no voice yet you still hear me. You don't have to talk to be heard Demon, and I hear them." She paused and turned to look at the ivy as if she were hearing it again. "It says that if you're really quiet you will hear them too, but you probably won't be able to understand what they are saying." Both of them stopped talking and listened. He didn't really believe her, but assumed this would be the easiest way to keep her from getting upset. _

_"All that I hear is wind rustling the plants."_

_"Have you not realized it? There's no wind. That's them talking." He hadn't realized there was no wind when he said it. That didn't change his opinion though._

_"Then it is animals scurrying through them."_

_"You really don't believe me? I'll prove it then." She began making rustling sounds that almost exactly matched the ones coming from the plants around them. Then there was silence. The rustling had stopped completely. The demon just looked at her skeptically to which she responded by putting her finger up as a sign for him to wait. Then she once again made the rustling sounds and the ones around them started up again. She repeated the action multiple times, and each time it alternated from silence back to rustling then back to silence. _

_He looked at her with the same level of amazement she had given the garden earlier. It was the first time a human had managed to surprize him in a long time. When she noticed the look he was giving her she returned it with a toothy grin. Realizing that she had managed to surprize him twice in one day he decided that he didn't want to give her the chance to do it again. Holding his hand out to her he smiled. "It's time to go back inside. If you want I can try to bring you back out here tomorrow night." _

_Her smile grew at the thought of returning to the garden the next night. Rather than grabbing his hand she reached both arms up as high as she could. Realizing that she wanted to be carried back he reached out and picked her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. Holding her up with one arm he put his other hand on her back to help steady her. It was still pitch black outside so he was in no hurry to get back and decided to take the longer path to the house. "Hey Demon."_

_"What is it?"_

_"Have you come up with a name to call me by yet?"_

_"No, but if you wish for me to then I will. How about Ivy then. It seems to be a fitting name for you."_

_"Okay."_

_When they got back he realized that she had fallen asleep on the way. He walked over to the blankets she had spread out in the corner and laid her down on them before covering her with another one and walking away._

Finished reminiscing about the past Sebastian looked down at his pocket watch. _Two fifty. She'll be up soon._ He put the watch back in his pocket before putting his arm back around her. Almost as soon as he did so he felt her grip on his tail coat tighten and her entire body seemed to tense up. She began squirming around as if trying to get away from something and mumbling things he couldn't understand. It lasted for what felt to him like forever, but he knew was actually only about ten minutes.

Finally she woke up , but it wasn't over for her. He knew that there was a lot that she could take before breaking down, but whenever she reached that point she always fell hard. He could see the amount of effort she was putting into pretending she wasn't bothered by her nightmare. He allowed her to push his arms away and move out of his lap even though all he wanted at the time was to keep her there. He stayed where he was and watched as she moved across the room to the bookshelf and began pulling them down one by one and flipping through them.

The books weren't helping. As she continued trying to read through it she couldn't keep from shaking as the fear attempted to escape the void she had put so much work into forcing it into. He was still sitting in the same place he had been the whole night trying to think of what the best way to respond would be. "I'm sorry, but could you please leave?" Her voice was shaky and he knew that she wanted him to leave because she didn't want anyone to see her break. It was easier to pretend it never happened if no one else saw it.

That was all he needed to help him decide what to do. He immediately stood and walked over to her. He turned her around and pulled her into an embrace just strong enough that she wouldn't be able to pull away. She didn't even try. Instead she buried her face in his chest and did her best to calm down. His grip loosened as he moved one hand from around her waist to rest on the back of her head in an attempt to comfort her.

He knew that it wasn't because of the contents of the nightmare. If that was the reason then she would have simply told him what had happened in it and he could have comforted her much easier. The real reason she was bothered was because she had no idea what it was about. She was scared out of her mind night after night and she couldn't even remember what she was so easily terrified by. He couldn't even tell her he could protect her from it simply because he had no idea what it was.

They stood like that until she began to calm down. When he was sure she was okay he released her, but she didn't do the same. He wasn't sure when she had wrapped her arms around his torso, but he did know she had no intention of letting go just yet. She was willing to look up at him when he asked her to though and he was thankful for that. "Feeling better?" She nodded and smiled slightly in an attempt to prove that she wasn't lying. "Good. Now, while I don't really mind you holding onto me I would prefer it if you would allow me to change the position I'm standing in."

She slowly let go of him and took a few steps back. Smiling slightly he crouched down until they were about the same height before spreading his arms out in front of him inviting her to move closer. Accepting his offer she put her arms around his neck and leaned her head on his shoulder. Before she knew what was happening he had lifted her off her feet and was holding her up with one arm. He turned and walked to the bed where he gently laid her down. As he stood up straight again she let go.

He pulled her covers over her before turning to grab something on her nightstand. From the angle she was at she couldn't tell what it was until she began to hear a small clicking sound. He set the object down and turned to look at her again just in time for her music box to start playing the tune to London Bridge. She had always liked the song though she never bothered to memorize the real lyrics to it and instead made up her own every time it played. She smiled and scooted over in the bed before closing her eyes.

When he first noticed her moving over he thought she was going to move all the way to the other side so that he couldn't reach her again. He was relieved when instead she only moved into the center and didn't turn away from him. He sat on the open space she had left and leaned back until he was laying on top of the covers next to her. She opened her eyes slightly before moving closer to him and closing them again. He turned to lay on his side so that he was facing her and rested a hand on the side of her face. Moving closer to her he pressed his lips against hers. This time while she was obviously uncomfortable she made no attempt to move away. Pulling away he moved his hand from her face to her back and pulled her as close to him as the covers would allow. Before long she was once again fast asleep and he had begun thinking again. _I forgot to ask her. Oh well I suppose it can wait. _

The rest of the night and every night after was spent in the same way. He laid on top of the covers with his arms around her as she slept. When she was woken by her nightmare he was always right there to comfort her, and she would fall right back to sleep with her head against his chest. Even after she fell back asleep he would stay with her until he had to leave in order to wake everyone else up. She was always the last one he woke up. Only after bringing Ciel his breakfast would he go back to get her up. As the days passed she became well rested and started waking up before he even got back, but she always waited for him to come by before leaving her room.

She started spending more and more time in the garden and eventually it seemed to him as if they only ever saw each other at nights and in the morning but he was fine with that. The thing that bothered him was that due to the fact that she spent so much time in the garden she also spent most of her time with Finny. At first he didn't mind it so much but as he began to think more on the subject he also realized possible implications of her choice of name for him. She had called him Garden. It was one of her favorite things in the world and she had called him by it.

One night he decided to question her about her feelings in regards to him. Her answer seemed too vague for his liking, but no matter how much he pressed it never got any more specific. He wasn't entirely sure why it managed to bother him so much. Only that he wanted her to give him an answer insuring that he meant nothing to her. She could tell exactly what he wanted to hear and chose to avoid saying it. As far as she was concerned it was none of his business and this was far to good a chance to irritate him for her to pass up.

The next day while Ivy was on her way to the garden she saw Finny, Meyrin, Bard, and Tanaka making their way to Ciel's study nervously. Abandoning her original goal she decided to follow them and see what was happening. Inside the study the three who assumed that they were in trouble stood at attention waiting for bad news while Ivy and Tanaka stood behind them watching. The bad news never came and instead Ciel gave them a job involving an old camera.

Tanaka explained the history of said camera and Ciel took a picture of Finny in order to prove that it really did show the thing that was most important to the one in the picture. As Finny broke the head off of the bear while telling the story of his dead bird rather than reacting with shock like the others she immediately began gathering up all of the pieces that were now scattered on the ground. When she took the body of the bear out of his hands he looked at her apologetically to which she responded by shrugging in a way that said she didn't really mind. "Gives me something to do later."

Ciel continued to tell everyone that the fact that he had wanted the camera because of the fact that it had the power to show the thing that was most important to whatever got its picture taken. Ivy watched Meyrin and Bards reactions to the story and when Finny began crying over his lost bird she patted his head in an attempt to calm him down. _What does Demon assume that I would find enticing about an over grown child._ Hearing Ciel say something about getting a picture of Sebastian with it she instantly turned her attention back to him. Meyrin had begun thinking of all of the things that could show up, Bard was shouting about how Sebastian had to have a weakness, Finny was watching and most likely also trying to think of what might show up, and Ivy and Ciel were thinking the same thing.

"Interesting." They spoke in unison. Both of them were curious as to what would show up on the picture. Neither of them really wanted to put in the effort to actually get the picture and instead left it up to the servants to take the picture. In the mean time Ivy decided to go out into the garden and fix the bear statue. She spent until about midday working on it and finally finished. She took it back to Ciel's study and put it down in its original place. It was about that time that she noticed two things. The first was that she was extremely hungry and the second was that Ciel was using a doll house placed at the end of his desk and moving something around in it. Of course she focused on the second one rather than the first.

"I'm not sure if I should be more curious as to why you're playing with a doll house or as to why you have it in the first place."

"It's Elizabeth's and I'm using it to keep track of where in the house Sebastian should be right now." Her curiosity quenched she decided to focus on her first realization and went to find Sebastian. Outside she noticed him just in time to see Pluto run up to him, throw a cat, and begin whining while rubbing up against him. She walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. He turned to look at her and she saw a small smile cross his features.

"I want food." He nodded up at her and pushed Pluto away as he stood up before holding a hand out to her. She put her hands in his and he led her to the kitchen. After she ate she went to speak with Ciel as he went back to work. She had thought of something that may allow them to get the picture.

"How much do you want the picture?"

"A great amount, why?"

"Because I know something we can try, but I can't promise Garden's safety or that it will work."

"What? Why me?" His voice matched that of a small child complaining.

"Well it would also probably work with Pink, Cigarette, and Shorty too if you're scared but definitely not as well. It's only gonna work once so if you choose to go with it then you better not miss your chance to get the picture."

"What is your plan then?"

"That's part of the reason it will only work once. If you all know about it then it will ruin it. Do you trust me to try it or not?"

"I suppose so."

"Good. Follow me." She turned and walked out of the study. They followed close behind her until they made it to the front room and she motioned for everyone but Finny to hide. They moved under the stairs and waited while Ivy and Finny stood in the middle of the room.

"Ivy, what are we-" He was cut off by her raising a finger to her mouth in a shushing motion. There were quiet footsteps slowly growing louder as they neared the room. Just as they made it inside Ivy moved forward and pressed her lips against Finny's. Her eyes were closed, but his widened in shock as a blush spread across his face.

_Eight...Nine...Ten. _She pulled away from the blushing boy and looked at the man who had just walked into the room. Finny did the same and his shocked expression turned into one of fear.

"M-Mr. Sebastian." Noticing that he had pretty much frozen after saying that she decided to step in and save him. She looked at the stairs.

"Did you get the picture. If not you should hurry while both of them are trying to understand what just happened." Hearing the small click of them starting their attempt at taking the picture she sighed. _No way that he's going to stay still long enough for them to finish taking the picture. _She poked Finny on the arm to get his attention before mouthing the word "run" and watching him snap out of his shock and do as he was instructed. Looking at Sebastian she shrugged and walked out of the room.

She had started counting when she heard the camera and just as she got to five she heard the footsteps start up again. _I hadn't expected it to work but that was just sad._ The footsteps behind her sped up and soon she felt an arm wrap around her waist from behind. He leaned forward so that his mouth was next to her ear.

"That was a dirty trick Ivy." He sounded more like a child who was forced to share their favorite toy than an angry demon. She could tell that what she had done had annoyed him though. The position they were standing in was uncomfortable to say the least but instead of trying to move away she chose to lean back against him.

"Sorry." It was always hard to tell if she really meant it because of the way she spoke but this time he decided to believe it. His grip around her tightened slightly and she turned her head so that she could see him. He did the same.

"Do you remember our contract?"

"Ya. It seems like a hard thing to forget." His grip tightened again as they both started thinking back to when their contract came to be.

_It was one of those few days when no one was home and Ivy was able to run around the house as she pleased. The demon followed the now fifteen year old girl closely. Even after all this time she still somehow managed to find new things every time she came out of hiding. The only thing that seemed to change over time was that her level of excitement toward things outside her world had gone down greatly. Right now she was analyzing every detail of a small heart shaped locket. She accidentally pushed down on the button causing it to open and she jumped slightly. _

_Realizing that she had assumed it was just an ordinary charm and probably thought she had broken it now he laughed slightly before moving over to her and reaching out to close it. As his hands touched hers he realized her hands were shaking. Most people would have assumed it was out of fear from breaking something but he knew exactly what the real reason for it was. He looked at her arms and saw the bruises and cuts that covered them. She was shaking because just holding her arms up was causing her a large amount of pain. He knew she'd never admit that though and chose not to say anything about it. Instead he closed the locket and put it back in her hand._

_"It's a locket. It opens when you push that button and then you just clamp it shut. Like this." He pushed the button so that it opened and then closed it again. A tiny amount of amazement flashed in her eyes as she as he did this, and he didn't miss it. After it faded he wanted to see it again. He pushed the button so that it was open then pointed at the inside. "Most people put pictures of someone or something that's important to them inside. This one belongs to your mother and the newborns in the pictures are most likely you and your sister." She stared at the pictures for a few seconds before looking at him._

_"She forgot me though. It would be strange for her to keep a picture of me in something like this."_

_"Not entirely. She still remembers you but she doesn't know that you are here. Your father has told her that you have either died or were adopted into a different family. That is why your picture is in here." He sat on the ground next to her and pulled her onto his lap. He put his arms around her and moved his hands around hers. His main reason was so that she could rest her arms on his so that it wouldn't hurt so much and she'd stop shaking. It worked and she even leaned back so that she was resting on his chest. Her arms weren't as long as his so he had to move his into an awkward position to make sure that he could still support hers. It didn't bother him though. _

_He looked down at the injuries on her arms again and thought about how she had gotten them. He had always made sure that the person who he made a contract with had a personality that he didn't get along with but this one was by far the worst. At first he hadn't been bothered much by the mans behavior but as time passed and he got used to the girl who he now held in his arms he began to want his contract to end more than anything. He also wanted it to last though. Both desires were because of her. The fact that it was so hard to get her to smile was because of him. He had even caused her to believe that it was best for her to be forgotten and that no matter what she would always be alone and that all she deserved and ever would deserve was the pain he put her through daily. "I hate that man." He didn't even realize that the words had left his lips until she looked up at him._

_"Who? Do you mean my father? You really shouldn't."_

_"Why shouldn't I? It seems stranger that you don't." It was quiet for a few minutes before she finally broke the silence._

_"When your contract with him ends..." She trailed off as if trying to decide what to say next._

_"What about it?" He moved his arms so that they were wrapped around her. She never liked talking about the contract and he knew if she was forcing herself to do so now then it must be something important._

_"When your contract ends...could you please take my soul instead of his?" He stared at her in shock at what she'd just said. It made no sense that she would be willing to give up her soul in order to save him. When he finally snapped out of it he tightened his grip around her. If he refused then it might make her mad at him and he would rather that not happen, but if he accepted then he would eventually end up devouring her soul and he didn't believe he could allow that to happen either. There was another silence before he made up his mind._

_"I won't allow that." She looked down and he was sure that she was about to pry his arms away and leave. "I won't take your soul in return for his but I will make a different deal with you. I will end my contract with him if you will promise to be mine. At the point when my contract with him is to end instead of me taking his soul you will become my mate. Does that sound fair to you?" She was caught off guard by his strange deal but nodded her head anyway. He smiled down at her before giving her a peck on the cheek. It was something he had done a few times before but she still flinched and moved away because she wasn't used to it. He sighed and pulled her back to her position of leaning against his chest._

_"Sorry. Force of habit." She had gone back to looking down and she was moving the locket around in her hands nervously. _

_"It's alright. Since this would be considered a contract you will get a mark. It won't be complete until the contract is though. Do you have any specific place you'd like me to put it?" _

_"On my back. It would be easier to hide that way so he won't see it and get mad." He smiled at how quickly she replied and put his hand in the middle of her back._

_"Here?" She nodded. "Alright then." She could feel his mark being stamped onto her back but she stayed perfectly still. When he was done she suddenly felt extremely tired and leaned her head on his shoulder. She felt herself being lifted up by him right before she fell asleep._

"Then you also know why it will never be complete." He spoke softly because he heard the others looking for them.

"He broke his contract with you and ours is meant to happen when his is complete." She answered so quickly that it was obvious she had realized it a long time ago.

"Yes. Now for the reason I brought it up. I wish to break that contract and, if you are still willing to, make a new one. This time it will be that you will be mine within a year. If you choose not to then I will let you go and not bring it up again." After a few seconds he felt her pulling on his hands in an attempt to get him to let go. Taking that as a sign that she meant the answer was no he sighed and let go. She didn't walk away like he thought she would. Instead she turned around and put her arms around his torso. He immediately responded by putting his arms around her again.

"Demon, if you are willing to make the new contract with me then I will gladly accept." He smiled down at her and made sure that he was holding onto her tightly before putting his hand over the old mark and removing it. Exhaustion immediately hit her and she was entirely relying on him to hold her up.

"Same place?" She did her best to nod and suddenly felt any energy she had left disappear. He slowly pushed her away from him so that he could lean over to pick her up. It was still only about midday but he was pretty sure she'd spend the rest of it asleep. He took her back to her room and put her down on the bed. After pulling the covers over her he leaned down until their lips were touching. Instead of waiting for a few seconds before pulling back he stayed there for what he counted out to be fifteen seconds. He couldn't allow Finny to have had a longer kiss with his soon-to-be mate than him after all. He left her room just in time to answer the door and let in their guest.


	10. His Butler, Pitiful

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.**

**Author's Note: Sorry this took longer than I said it would. I kinda had a lot going on and I just didn't feel up to writing anything. I think it's all over with now though so I'm back. I'm sorry if names are spelled wrong. This story is probably going to be about 27 chapters long unless when I get to the end someone asks me to continue it. I also may have to switch it to mature instead of teen because of future events. Well regardless please comment, rate, and enjoy the story! **

"Impressive. Frost Fair certainly is an apt title for this." There was a small hint of amazement an Sebastian's voice.

"A large gathering held at the foot of the London bridge when the Thames freezes over. from what I'm told it hasn't been held for decades now. Not since 1814 apparently." Ciel explained to no one in specific. Ivy heard them talking, but she was too focused on watching her feet and trying not to slip on the ice to notice them stop. As Sebastian's feet appeared in her peripheral vision she realized that they were no longer moving and tried to stop. Unfortunately the ice beneath her didn't have the same idea and she continued sliding until she ran into Sebastian. She would have fallen, but he put his arm out and caught her before she did.

"I really hate ice." She grabbed his arm for support and went back to looking at her feet as she tried to get her footing. He chuckled and put an arm around her waist to steady her. Ciel glanced back for a few seconds questioningly and Sebastian let go of her waist only to have her slip almost immediately causing him to put his arm around her again and Ciel to chuckle and begin walking again. Sebastian followed and pulled Ivy along with him.

At first she just stumbled and tripped next to him, but after a few minutes she managed to get more accustomed to walking on the ice and began walking normally and only slipped every once in a while. Eventually she was able to move her focus from her steps to her surroundings. She hadn't noticed it before, but there were quite a few people staring at her and Sebastian. Her first assumption was that they were focused on him and ignoring her completely. She didn't really mind. In fact she prefered it that way. She realized she was wrong as soon as she heard whispering all around them.

"Oh my look at them. Such a strange couple. It must be pity, or maybe she's too weak to stand on her own."

"That poor girl. There must be something wrong with her she's so pale."

"I wonder if what she's got is contagious. She shouldn't be out in public like that."

"I feel bad for that man. To be stuck on such a great day with such a weird girl." Ivy sighed. She was used to hearing such things, but now Sebastian, and possibly Ciel, had been brought into them. Sebastian had heard all of it, but he had assumed that she was still focusing on her feet until he heard her sigh. He tightened his grip around her waist and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Ignore them." After looking to make sure Ciel wouldn't see he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before standing back up to his normal height and smiling down at her. His smile didn't fade even when she sighed for a second time. There was dead silence around them for a few seconds and then it seemed like everyone was talking.

"Did you see that?!"

"There's no way! Maybe he heard us."

"That must be it. He heard us and felt bad for her." Ivy decided to do what he said and ignore them. Even if he hadn't told her to she probably would have done it anyway.

"They would have gotten bored with the subject faster if you hadn't done that."

"I know, but I couldn't resist. We'll be too far away for you to hear them soon enough anyway." She just shrugged and, to his surprise, moved closer to him. She hadn't realized how cold she was until now, or how warm he was. Rather than saying anything he just changed the position his arm was in to make up for the space created by her moving closer and his smile grew slightly. There was another period of silence, but this time she had already put her focus on looking at what was being sold inside the tents before they started whispering again.

They came to a stop in front of a tent selling a large number of what the salesman was calling "one of a kind" items. She looked inside and saw a wooden boat that looked oddly familiar to her. She pointed to it. "Hey Shorty, didn't you used to have a boat similar to that?" Ciel had come to the same conclusion. She listened quietly as he explained that only three were ever made and that ever since his house burned down they didn't even have one.

"Noah's ark. You know it reminds me of this country."

"Why's that?" Ciel and Ivy spoke in unison.

"Think about it. A boat captained by a single person. One filled with only the select few who've been chosen to be saved. Rather arrogant don't you think?" As he finished a man walked up and began speaking to Ciel. Ivy poked Sebastian in the side to get his attention.

"Do you have something against London?" It wasn't that she was offended by what he said, just curious. Looking down at her he smiled.

"I'll leave that for you to decide." A vague answer. She wasn't really expecting anything else. Ciel began walking away so they followed. As the man who Ivy had heard Ciel call Aberline reached out to grab Ciel's shoulder Sebastian swatted his hand away.

"Pardon me. My master is a touch fragile at the moment. Oh I mean sensitive. Perhaps you could try to be a trifle more gentle when approaching him." Ivy couldn't see Ciel's face, but she was sure he was pouting. Aberline was close to doing the same.

The group of four began making their way to a large tent being used as a Chinese restaurant. Ciel and Aberline went inside while Ivy and Sebastian decided to wait outside. Ivy looked up at Sebastian after the others went inside. "I think I can walk on my own now."

"Would you like for me to let go then?" He had a slightly playful tone in his voice that told her no matter what answer she gave he wasn't going to let go. She decided it would be easier to just respond by shaking her head. "It's no fun if you don't even try to argue." He leaned down so his face was level with hers. "If you really want me to let go then I'll make you a deal. If you give me something I will move my arm and let you stand on your own. It shouldn't be very hard for you to figure out what I want." He smiled.

"I don't wish to be let go of that much." She pushed his face away earning a disappointed sigh from him.

"That's too bad. I did give you a chance though." He leaned forward again and touched his lips to hers. She stood still waiting for him to pull away. After a few seconds passed she realized he wasn't going to and she moved back instead.

"They're whispering again." It was starting to bother her.

"Sorry. Those two will most likely be busy for awhile. Is there anything you'd like to do?" She ignored his obviously fake apology and started looking around for something to do. Something caught her eye almost immediately.

"Is that Blondie- I mean Elizabeth?" Sebastian followed her gaze and realized that she was correct.

"Yes. I wonder what she is doing here. Would you like to follow her?"

"Nothing better to do. We can't be seen though."

"Of course. We must hurry if we don't wish to lose her."

"Alright." They began slowly moving closer to her. It wasn't that they were trying to be stealthy. He was worried that if they tried to run Ivy would lose her footing again. As they got closer they realized she was searching for something. "I wonder what she's looking for. She seems frantic."

"I believe you are correct. What's wrong?" She had stopped and was looking at a strangely dressed man who was walking in the other direction. He was turning the crank to a large music box he was carrying. "Ah, so that's it. You always did like that song. I don't believe you ever learned the words to it though."

"I have no wish to. I assume it would be repetitive based on the tune. Should we head back?"

"I suppose so." As they turned to begin walking back she managed to move out of his grip. He was slightly disappointed when she continued walking normally without his help. Rather then risking annoying her by putting his arm around her again he decided to just walk next to her in case she slipped.

They made it back to the restaurant just as Ciel, Aberline, and Lau were walking out to go meet someone else. She almost immediately moved behind Sebastian. She'd known Lau when he worked with Ciel's father and had always been bothered by his personality. He had a habit of invading her personal space and saying things that would have most women either blushing or slapping him as hard as they could. Lucky for him she had always been to focused on trying to put as much space between them as she could to notice what he said. Sebastian took the hint and made sure to stay between the two as they walked.

They arrived at a strangely decorated tent with a sign that read "Undertaker" at the top. "You're sure this is the right place?" Ciel sounded like he hoped the answer would be no.

"Yes it is. He set up shop here because so many people have been freezing to death here in the frost fair." Aberline explained as if it should be common knowledge. A small smile flashed across Ivy's face as stared at the tent. She ignored what the others were talking about until Aberline walked up and tried to grab the door knob. She thought about telling him it was just a curtain but he had already fallen through it before she had the chance.

"What a hopeless fool."

"One of the privileges of youth my lord." Ivy just shrugged and continued looking at the fake door.

"Aberline won't last one minute in there. Sebastian prepare t-" Ciel was interrupted by the Undertaker's earthshaking laughter. They all made their way inside just in time to see him pulling himself off the floor and trying to get ahold of himself. It wasn't really working to well.

"I assure you man you're on a role profession. That was hysterical. You could be a world renown comedian." Undertaker spoke through his laughter.

"What did you say to him?"

"I have no idea. I was just talking to him normally. He began laughing like a madman."

"How unexpected. You aren't without talent." Ciel was speaking through clenched teeth as if it was hard for him to say. Sebastian took a few steps forward and glared at the detective.

"It seems you are a man to be reckoned with. Most interesting." Ivy wasn't sure if he was serious or messing around, but either way she found it entertaining. The fact that it actually seemed to scare the detective made it even more so. After that she noticed that whenever the detective spoke he glared again. They followed Undertaker to an ice sculpture with a ring on it.

"It appears that a sculptor must have happened upon the ring and then designed a beautiful ice sculpture to complement it. Our mystery has been solved."

"Collect the ring right now." Two of Aberline's subordinates ran up to do as they had been instructed but they were stopped before they got the chance.

"What do you think you're doing thieves?" A strange group of people walked up. A blonde man was the first to speak.

"That dear lady will be awarded to the contests victor. You wouldn't want to defile her now would you?" Ciel instantly started to look worried.

"Viscount Lord Druitt?" Ciels question was all Ivy needed to understand what was happening. She had been told about the Jack the Ripper case and knew about Ciel's previous encounter with him. "They're holding some contest? Why is he a judge?"

"Yes. Wasn't he just arrested for human trafficking? What a naughty man."

"He was released a few days ago."

"Must've paid well."

"It seems like something you should know by now Shorty. You can't pin anything on the rich." As Ivy spoke Aberline moved forward.

"Excuse me, but this statue is now under the charge of Scotland Yard."

"Oh no. I don't care if you are from Scotland Yard sir. The Frost Fair is an event for our citizens. I will not let you disrupt it." Ivy stopped paying attention as the viscount began speaking again. She caught enough of it to understand that there was an ice sculpting contest about to happen and the winner got the sculpture. She also heard Ciel order Sebastian to win and decided that there was no need to worry and nothing really to do until the contest ended. With nothing else to focus on she began to realize again how cold it was.

Crossing her arms to stay warm she decided to watch as the contestants worked. The group from Scotland Yard were carving so slowly that she got bored with them quickly. The next group was Lau and Ran Mao but when she realized what they were making she got uncomfortable just watching and decided to move on. Then she made it to a group of three that were making something that she wasn't really sure what it was. It caught her interest though and she stayed watching their strange sculpture come into being until their time ran out.

She went and stood in the crowd with everyone to watch the judging. Sebastian noticed the way her arms were crossed and without thinking put an arm around her waist the same way it had been before. "Better?" She nodded and moved closer to him again. She stood still and watched as Scotland Yard failed horribly and Lau got eliminated but still got more points than the prior. The first time she actually moved was when Sebastian went up to reveal his sculpture. She was slightly surprized to see that he had picked Noah's ark, but as expected he ended up winning with it.

As the bandits attacked and everyone began running away she made the decision to walk away as well. It wasn't that she was worried something would happen, she just wanted an excuse to get off of the ice. Even though she had gotten used to walking on it the fact that she wasn't a fan didn't change. She somehow ended up next to the group of judges; which she actually didn't mind until the Viscount began talking about Sebastian's ice skating. She actually thought about pushing him off of the platform they were standing on but decided it wasn't worth the effort. Instead she watched as Sebastian taunted the thieves until they ended up destroying the ice they were standing on. Then her focus shifted to trying to see where Ciel had been thrown to. She wasn't sure how to respond when they came out riding the ark Sebastian had made but she seriously thought about throwing the Viscount in again.

Eventually she decided on helping pull the thieves out of the water. The only thanks she got for her actions was being pushed in by one of them as they tried to escape. It took her a few seconds to process what had happened but when she did she swam straight up and then to the ledge so she could pull herself out. By the time she was out she was shivering and a crowd had surrounded her. Everyone was staring down at her but they didn't say anything or make any move to help her. She knew they weren't going to. Somewhere in the crowd she heard a small child yell, "Mommy is that a ghost." before all hell broke loose.

Everyone was shouting, running, or just staring down at her in shock. It was another reaction she was used to so instead of just sitting there freezing she stood up and walked past them. Everyone either moved out of her way or shoved her and she eventually made it out. The water on her hair had already frozen so she had sharp points at the ends. She didn't care. She just kept walking. She didn't even bother to wrap her arms around her because she was sure it wouldn't do any good. A few feet away from the crowd she met up with Ciel and Sebastian. Both of them were looking at her with pity and she just put a hand up to tell them not to say whatever they were thinking. "It's fine so drop it." She felt like she was being stabbed by millions of needless and she just wanted to go inside.

The trip back to the manor was silent. As soon as they got back she went to her room and took a bath. When she didn't come down for dinner they began to get worried and Meyrin ran to check on her. Not finding her in her room Meyrin ran back frantically yelling that she was missing. "Calm down Meyrin. I will go find her. If she doesn't want to be found then it is unlikely that you will be able to find her." Sebastian was calm on the outside, but on the inside he was extremely worried. Even he had trouble finding her when she hid. He started with the garden, then the library and the study, and finally all of the bedrooms.

Eventually he found her in a room in one of the corridors that was no longer used. She was staring at a blank wall and when he walked in she turned to face him. "This room is wrong." He wasn't sure how to respond to her strange behavior.

"How so?" He was slightly curious what she meant. This room matched all of the other guest rooms in the house and according to Ciel this was how the rooms were supposed to look.

"The walls, ceiling, and carpet were all black. So were the bedspreads and sheets. The only furniture was the bed. There wasn't a mirror." He wasn't sure why it mattered to her or why she was so sure of it. Only her last sentence actually meant anything to him. _There wasn't a mirror. She covered every mirror in the attic when she stayed there and did her best to avoid them in the house. She even covered the one in her room here._

"So I assume that means this was your room. From what I know most women seem to spend too much time in front of the mirror. You on the other hand tend to avoid them as much as possible. Why is that?" She shrugged and looked at the mirror.

"I don't like ghosts." As soon as she finished speaking the mirror shattered and she walked past him and out the door; most likely headed to her room again. He just stood there trying to process what he had just seen. Finally managing to understand most of what had happened he sighed out of pity and walked out of the room to tell everyone he had found her.


	11. His Butler, Illness

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.**

**Author's Note: Hurray Grell finally shows up and Ivy get's to start fighting all in the same chapter. I ended up deciding that I do plan to change this story to mature because I'm overly cautious, but I plan to wait until the next chapter to do so. I also don't plan to post lemons on this site but if I get enough requests for one then I will write one on my deviant art and write in my author's note that I posted one. I just don't want to risk being suspended from this sight. That part isn't really doesn't really matter yet but it will eventually so I decided to tell everyone now. Anyway, please comment, rate, and enjoy the story.**

"Are you really not going to celebrate your birthday this year?" Ivy asked after walking into Ciel's office without knocking. He practically jumped out of his chair in surprize. It wasn't strange for her to randomly walk in, but most of the time she waited for him to acknowledge her presence before speaking. Composing himself he answered her question.

"That is correct. I'm too busy for such things. Why does it matter to you anyway? You never celebrated your birthday when you were here before." He had hoped that turning it on her would cause her to drop the subject.

"I didn't celebrate because I've never celebrated my birthday. I wouldn't even know when it was if not for my sister. I know exactly why you don't want to celebrate. I was just curious if it was true or not. Oh by the way, if you're going to use the excuse that you're too busy you should really make sure that the papers in front of you actually look like work." He looked down at the paper in front of him and blushed slightly. She was right about it not being work. It was just a paper covered in doodles because for the time being he really didn't have anything to work on. "Wanna play chess?" He looked up and saw that she was pointing to a chess board on a table in the corner.

"I guess." It was a random request but rather than questioning it he decided it would be easier to just agree. They played in silence until Ciel only had a knight, a bishop, two pawns, and his king left and she only had three pawns and her king.

"It's unfortunate not having a queen anymore. The game becomes much slower after the queen is taken out." She was right. Since they both lost their queens they had actually started trying to be strategic with their moves which caused their turns to take longer.

"Wishing to have your queen back won't do any good. You've lost it and can't get it back. That's what you get for putting all of your effort into protecting your pawns. Now the weakest pieces are all you have left to protect yourself."

"I haven't lost anything though. I know exactly where my queen is and how to get it back. Something is only lost when you give up on the possibility of it returning to you." She moved one of her pawns. He hadn't really been paying attention to where they were so he hadn't noticed that she had moved one all the way to his side of the board. "Besides, in the end pawns can be the pieces that either bring your victory or your defeat. Now I've got a queen and you don't. Check." He looked down at his king and realized that the only time he had moved it was to hide it behind his pawns in a corner of the board after she had lost her queen. Now it was trapped behind them. He moved his bishop back in between her queen and his king. She moved her queen and took out his bishop. "Checkmate."

"Rematch?" It was more of a statement than a question but she didn't really mind and just began lining the pieces back up on the board.

"Which color do you want to be?" She had already started lining the white pieces up on his side. He always picked white because he always wanted to go first. Seeing that she had already put the white pieces closer to him he realized that she had already known what his answer would be and decided she had just asked for the purpose of asking. They played in silence for another few minutes.

"Ivy." She looked up from the board at her young opponent. "What did you mean when you said something is only lost when you give up on it returning? What about when you don't know where it is or how to get it back? Isn't that what it means for something to be lost?"

"The definition of the word 'lost' will change depending on who you ask."

"Well then what's your's?"

"Mine? Well I don't believe you can lose something you don't truly care about. If something that doesn't matter to you goes missing it is very unlikely you will search for it so I don't consider that lost. If something you really care about disappears then you will search for it and a way to bring it back regardless of how difficult it is to find. At that point it is only something that has been misplaced. When you give up on finding it completely then you will never find it. Something that will never be found is what I consider to be lost." He stared at her for a few seconds trying to understand her reasoning, but his train of thought was interrupted by loud shouting outside. Ivy moved to the window just in time to see Elizabeth's carriage pull up.

"What's going on?"

"It would seem you have guests. You should go downstairs to greet them." With that Ivy left the room. She could hear Ciel go down stairs as she walked through the halls and into her room. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it before placing a hand on her forehead. _I don't think I can take this anymore. It's only midday and I'm already exhausted. Why do I always have to get so weak during winter. There's no way no one will notice so I might as well just give up on trying to hide it this year. Oh well, I'll just see if they notice on their own._ She walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge of it before picking up the music box on her nightstand and turning the key on it. Setting it down she moved the rest of the way onto her bed and fell asleep without even getting under the covers.

Sebastian barely heard the music box start up over Elizabeth's excited yelling. Curiosity peeked he decided to go see what Ivy was doing after bringing Ciel his afternoon tea. He walked into the room and found her curled up into a ball on her bed fast asleep. Normally he woken her up, but for some reason as he looked down at her sleeping form he couldn't bring himself to interrupt her dreams. She looked peaceful and was even smiling slightly. Unable to resist he put a hand on her head and began carefully dragging his fingers through her hair. His hand brushed against her cheek and he stopped. _She's warm._ He took his glove off and put his hand on her forehead. _How did I manage to forget about this. Two weeks into December and I'm only now realizing that she's fallen ill. She was most likely trying to hide it. I'll have to talk to her when she wakes up._ He sighed and kissed her on the cheek before pulling the covers over her, putting his glove back on, and leaving the room.

She woke up some time after the sun had gone down. Realizing that someone had pulled the covers over her she got out of bed and walked to Ciel's study hoping to find the demon who she assumed was responsible there. She walked in just in time to hear Sebastian announce that Elizabeth had disappeared. "Honestly, what was she thinking?" Ciel sounded annoyed.

"You should look at this." Sebastian held out a silver tray with a letter on it to Ciel. As Ciel opened the letter Sebastian glanced down at Ivy who was now standing next to him in front of Ciel's desk. _She looks like she's alright._ He reached out and fixed some of her hair that had gotten messed up while she was asleep. She mouthed a small "thanks" to him before turning her focus back to Ciel.

"Scotland Yard has been investigating a series of kidnappings. The targets are always young girls. Their bodies have not turned up yet, but they are most likely dead. The kidnapper sends a piece of the hope diamond to each of his victims before taking them. The very diamond said to bring a curse upon whoever owns it. The piece we were recently chasing after. Who knew that we'd be hearing about it again." Ivy grabbed the pictures that came with the letter's and began shuffling through them and memorizing the names and faces just in case she found any information on them.

"What now my lord?"

"We do what the queen has asked us. That is always our first priority. It's my job as guardian of the underworld." Ciel moved around his desk and Sebastian and Ivy followed. They made their way out to a carriage that Sebastian already had waiting outside. Knowing that protesting wouldn't do any good Sebastian helped Ivy into it and then sat across from her. By the time he was inside she had already zoned out while staring out the window. He kept his focus on her for the majority of the time he was with them knowing that Ciel was too preoccupied to notice or care. He only tore his focus away when Ciel ordered him to begin making a list of suspects. After giving his orders Ciel stopped paying attention again and Sebastian gave her a kiss on the cheek closest to the window so that it would look to Ciel as if he had only whispered something to her just in case he saw it through the reflection on the window.

"Don't push yourself too hard." He whispered to her before jumping out of the carriage to complete his orders. Ciel turned so he was facing her and gave her a confused look.

"What did he whisper to you?" He sounded genuinely curious.

"He said not to push myself." His confused look remained so she explained further, "I wasn't feeling well earlier today. He's worried that I've fallen ill, but I'm fine. Just a little tired." She shrugged as if to say that it's not really a very big deal and went back to watching the trees pass by through the window. He did the same.

Soon they had arrived at their destination and were standing in the dark street trying to decide the best way to find Elizabeth. There were two things posing a major distraction for Ciel at the moment though. The first was demon hound Sebastian had made him bring along, and the second was the peasant boy who had taken Ivy's place. "Why are you dressed like that?" She was wearing baggy brown pants, a tan shirt that was at least two sizes to big for her, torn up brown shoes, and a dirty-blonde short hair wig.

"You don't get out much do ya? How ofen you see a girl wandrin' around out here after dark? Other than prostitutes that is." Her usual her voice was no longer it's usual monotone and she was even talking in a voice relatively similar to Finnian's and with an accent like Bard's.

"Not much I guess." He couldn't really think clearly after hearing her speak.

"Not at all. There's a reason fer it. It ain't safe. Learned that well enough before I came ta live with you the first time."

"That explains the clothes, but do you really need to talk like that?"

"Sorry, force of habit. It was a part of the persona I used so now whenever I dress like this I just start using that voice. If I speak to anyone but you out here I'm most likely gonna use it again. I'm actually dressed this way more for when we meet up with Blondie than to avoid people out here." She had gone back to her usual voice.

"Why are you wearing a disguise to meet Lizzy?"

"Think about it. The last time she saw me was years ago, but my appearance hasn't changed at all. It would raise too many questions." He raised an eyebrow. "Okay the truth is I've explained it enough times and I don't feel like going through the whole thing again right now. Happy?" He nodded.

"So you're gonna dress like that every time she's near by then?" She paused before responding.

"Probably more often than that actually. Boy's clothes are so much more comfortable than girls clothes." She stretched her arms up over her head. He found himself staring at her chest. She wasn't normally anywhere near flat chested, but she had somehow managed to make it impossible to tell. She noticed him staring. "Wondering where my chest went huh? Bandages are good for more than just injuries Shorty." A small amount of pride broke through her monotone. He blushed slightly at being caught but continued on as if it hadn't happened.

"I don't think I have met or ever will meet another female who is actually proud of the fact that they can so easily make themself look like a boy, or one who would prefer to dress as one." She just shrugged.

"Shouldn't we get back to looking for Blondie?" She began looking at their surroundings as he tried to get Pluto to track Elizabeth. One second she heard Ciel complaining about Pluto only listening to Sebastian and the next she was following the two as they ran off into an alley.

"Why do you have to start looking for a mate now?" It was taking all of Ciel's effort to keep a hold on Pluto's lease without getting dragged along by him.

"Oh! A man looking for a mate? Perhaps I can help." A voice called from somewhere nearby.

"Oh no, I recognize this voice. Shorty we should probably-" She was interrupted by the voice again and both of them looked up at a nearby roof.

"I am a hunter of love, and at last my prey is before me. Red is the color of fiery passion, and I am flaming." Recognition flashed across Ciel's face, but was replaced with anger. "A gorgeous man right there."

"You again."

"A deadly efficient butler that's me." Grell did his signature pose. "Though I do find myself masterless at the moment." He jumped down and landed in front of them.

"Red what are you doing here? Didn't you get in trouble? If Glasses comes I'm not covering for you again."

"Ah Ivy, a little gender confused again?" He mocked. "After the Madam Red incident I was temporarily demoted and now I only get the lowliest of jobs. That brute Will told me I wouldn't get my old post back until I collected some truly troublesome souls. Rotten sadist. Although I must confess I like rotten fruit every now and then. And those cold brooding eyes could sure keep me warm on a freezing night." He had started hugging himself as he spoke.

"You done talking about your crush yet Red?"

"At least I have one." He spoke in a sing-song voice.

"You don't have one crush you have many. In fact you have one on any man you deem handsome."

"So. Speaking of which who is this wild one. He's a cutie." He noticed Ciel getting angry. "Oh dear. You aren't thinking of avenging your aunt are you. Now that would just be silly."

"Shut up."

"Now, now, be nice. I don't see Bassy anywhere. What would a brat like you do without him."

"Be quiet." Pluto growled and Ivy decided to try to bring an end to the conversation.

"Oh is he your protector for the evening? Why does this little kid get all the good looking men?" He mumble the second part to himself.

"Pluto," The demon hound turned to look at her and she pointed at Grell. "attack boy." He lunged forward but rather than flinching or backing away Grell began dancing happily.

"Oh he's going to attack me how exciting. I'm all yours but please be gentle." Pluto, Ciel, and Ivy ran past him. "Hey what am I, chopped liver?"

"Don't be too upset. We just don't have any time to spare right now." Ivy yelled behind her as she ran alongside Ciel. She could have kept up with Pluto if she wanted to, but she decided that probably would have been considered "pushing herself" right now and that it would be easier to just stay with Ciel. As they rounded one last corner Grell popped up again and started telling Ciel about something written in the book of death, but she was already way ahead trying to catch Pluto before he went to far. She had just caught up to him as he jumped through the window and grabbed a doll that resembled Elizabeth. Ciel and Grell walked in shortly afterward and Pluto brought Ciel the doll.

They found a door in the back of the store that led to a large castle-like building. "Goodness, not exactly the most welcoming of places is it." It didn't really sound like it mattered to Grell though. Suddenly feeling light-headed, Ivy placed a hand against the wall to steady herself and moved the other one to her head. _I didn't even do anything extremely energy-consuming though. Why did this have to happen now? _She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. There was no way she was turning back now. When she opened her eyes she was met with a pair of green ones about a foot away.

"Do you need something Red?" He chuckled.

"No, but you do. Did you forget it's winter, or something. Oh I know, you're some kind of masochist and you enjoy pushing yourself to the point of exhaustion." He said it all in a mocking manner, but she was pretty sure he was being serious.

"Grell, shut up or I'll cut your tongue out and throw it in the Thames." He covered his mouth and backed up to hide behind Ciel. It wasn't really her threat that scared him. It was the fact that she used his real name rather than the nickname she had given him. He knew from past experience that when she reached that point she was not in any mood to put up with his stupidity. "Now can we get going?"

"Fine, Grell come in with me." Ciel obviously hadn't been paying attention to what was happening. "Protect me and I'll grant you a request."

"How insulting. Earl or not do you think I'm the kind of woman you can just buy with money." Ivy watched questioning how the man who just called himself a woman had called her gender confused earlier.

"I'll give you Sebastian for a day. You can do whatever you want with him."

"Sebastian for a day and whatever I want to do? Even kissing!?" He had stars in his eyes.

"If that's what you want to do."

"Does that mean I can use tongue?"

"Whatever you want."

"Oh my. Yes, that's an offer I couldn't possibly refuse. Deadly serious." He did a strange dance in his excitement.

"Wow. He actually kept his requests mostly child friendly. I was expecting something way different from him." Ivy spoke to Ciel but didn't really care if he heard her or not. Ciel just shrugged and they began walking to the entrance of the castle. When they made it Grell threw open the doors.

"Alright here we go." The first thing they noticed was a life-sized doll in the middle of the room. They ran up to it and Grell pointed out the ring on its thumb. Suddenly the doll looked down at Ciel and put its hand around his throat.

"Pluto, help." He saw Pluto using a much smaller doll as a chew toy out of the corner of his eye. "You stupid mongrel." Then he felt the hand on his throat loosen and he fell backwards.

"Why would you call for the mut to help you when you should be calling on me?" Grell was standing on a chandelier hanging above the doll. "As a reaper I have all the tools needed for harvesting a soul." He pulled out two pairs of safety scissors. "See, my death scythe."

"Are you proud of those Red." Ivy called up to him.

"Oh shut up. It's more than you have since there's no dirt in here."

"But aren't those just scissors?"

"It's not my fault Will took away my modified scythe. I miss it so much. I'll show you, I'll snip her into bits." He had an insane look on his face.

"I don't think snip is a word that should ever be used in a threat unless it's about hair." Ivy walked outside so she could use the dirt. She buried a seed in the ground and seconds later she was walking back inside with her plant scythe. She made it just in time to hear Grell shouting about sending the doll to the afterlife. A large set of double doors opened next to them. A man that Ivy recognized but couldn't place walked through.

"What a useless doll. She was an utter failure. So I thought to myself in order to succeed I must make them considerably stronger than this." He began singing a line from the song London Bridge and a small army of life-sized dolls made their way into the room.

"Now I remember. You were at the Frost Fair with a music box." She didn't realize she said it out loud but she was glad to see that it didn't have any effect on anyone. She moved into a defensive stance with her scythe in front of her.

"I've seen them before."

"I'm not going to let anyone take away my day with dear sweet Bassy."

"I'm not entirely sure you have your priorities straight here Red."

"Take this dolls." Grell was thrown back and a look of utter dismay crossed his face. "I-I couldn't cut them." The dolls started marching forward.

"This is an order. Grell and Ivy, you two stay here with Pluto and keep them busy for as long as it takes."

"Sure." Ivy didn't mind the idea that much. Ciel took off in the direction of the door.

"Wait you're just going to leave me here? That's not very human of you."

"You think I'm the inhuman one?" Ciel called out as he continued running and disappeared into the darkness on the other side of the door. Ivy ran at the doll still hovering over Grell and hit it with her scythe hard enough to send it a few feet back giving him a chance to get up. When her blade made contact a strong vibration ran up the handle and made her arms go numb for a few seconds. She looked at the doll she had hit. _Damn. Not even a scratch, but if I swing any harder my arms will break. Maybe if I hit it in the same spot multiple times._ While she was distracted another one ran and hit her in the side so hard that she flew through the air and slammed into the wall before finally falling to the floor. She used her scythe to help her stand. A searing pain shot up her side and she coughed up blood.

"And there goes a few ribs. So much for not pushing myself." She ran forward and swung at the doll she had hit before. She managed to hit it in the same place as before, but she was hit by another doll again. _This is gonna be a long fight. S_he thought as she stood up and swung for the doll again.


	12. His Butler, Celebrating

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters from Kuroshitsuji. I do own Ivy and Ivy's family.**_

**Author's Note: My computer really hates my guts. I wrote this chapter out and at about the midway point was the last time that I saved it and then my computer crashed which deleted everything after that and I had to rewrite it so I'm sorry if it starts to seem a bit rushed or strange. The next chapter, or possibly the next few chapters, are going to be my own meaning that they will not be a part of the anime or manga story-line. Until this point I've been trying to follow the anime exclusively but I decided that I want to include the mansion murder clue thing in it and depending on whether or not the werewolf arc finishes up soon I might also add it. Since I will be putting in my own parts if anyone has any suggestions about something they want me to put in it I will gladly accept them and give credit to the person who gave me them. Anyway, please rate, review, and enjoy the story. **

_Damn. I can't move my legs. _The fight had lasted nearly twenty minutes and all Ivy had to show for it was a what she assumed to be broken spine and a small cut in one of the dolls' sides. Grell had for the most part given up and was lying on the floor pretending to be dead. _Rotten coward. _She had only managed to land a few good hits. The last of which ended with her getting punched in the back and into another doll who slammed her down on the floor. Trying again to stand while leaning on her weapon for support she was met with a burning sensation in her lower back and a searing pain in her right leg. _Well at least now I know I'm not paralyzed. _The dolls had already begun filing out of the room to go find the other intruder. _I can't let them leave. Shorty doesn't have demon with him right now. _Lunging forward she managed to hit the doll she had been attacking in the same spot. Now that there was already a cut there her scythe was able to easily follow it and slice the rest of the way through the doll. The last thing Ivy saw was the doll fall down in two separate pieces and stop moving. Then everything went black.

When she woke up again she was outside. Grell was standing a few feet away looking down at her with his signature smile. "It's about time you woke up. I was worried you were dead for good this time. If that happened no one would be around to tell that little brat how heroic I was and I'd never get to have my day with Bassy." She sat up and stared at him.

"What the hell are you talking about? You played dead the whole time and left me to do all of the work."

"Not at the end I didn't. After you died they saw you trying to regenerate out here and came to attack you. We both know what would have happened if they went through with it, but like the heroine I am I came outside and defended you until they gave up and went back inside." His voice was filled with pride as he spoke.

"I died?" Looking down at her clothes she realized she was no longer wearing the peasant's clothing she had on before. Instead she had on a red dress that was made out of a material resembling flower petals. Standing up she winced at the pain that shot through her right leg. _If I died, then why do my injuries still hurt so much? They should have gone away completely when I regenerated._ Suddenly the world around her started spinning and she almost fell back down, but she managed to lean on Grell for support. _That must be it. I don't have the energy to regenerate completely. Just enough to make sure my injuries are no longer deadly._ As soon as she stopped feeling light-headed she moved away from Grell and stood on her own. He looked like he was about to question her, but at that moment Pluto went running past them and toward the other building. They chased after him at full speed and Grell managed to grab onto his leash just before he made it onto the bridge leading to the building.

"Hey now, calm down what's wrong with you puppy?" Pluto was barking at the building and it was taking all of the reapers strength to keep from being dragged by the overly excited demon hound. Ivy walked up and put a hand on his head.

"Calm down boy. It's just a building." Unsure of what to do to calm him down she just started patting his head hoping it would do something. It didn't of course. Right then Sebastian and Ciel came running up. The first thing Ciel noticed was Grell.

"That's a surprize. You're still alive?" Grell wasn't paying attention and he lunged for Sebastian only to be beaten to him by Pluto.

"That's just rude. Wait a second. A demon hound? Really?"

"You're just now noticing?" Grell began jumping around happily.

"A night with a demon hound, how sexy."

"You really have no standards." Sebastian looked like he was already through putting up with the reaper.

"Did you just find that out now Demon? You must not pay much attention." They hadn't even really acknowledged her presence yet.

"What happened to your clothes?" Ciel seemed genuinely confused.

"Those dolls punched really hard." His confusion faded.

"In other words you died?"

"That's correct." She could feel Sebastian's glare burning her skin, but she decided to just brush it off for now. _I doubt he'll do anything right now._ He just turned to Pluto.

"We've been waiting for you Pluto. This door has been sealed with unnatural power. Only a demon hound can open it." As he moved closer to the door Pluto's collar began glowing.

"His collar is glowing." Ciel sounded amazed by that fact.

"So is the door." Grell sounded only slightly less so.

"Fancy. Shouldn't we be slightly worried about how fitting their choice of lock was for us though?" She was blatantly ignored but decided it didn't really matter all that much. Pluto squirmed on the floor for a short period of time before transforming into his other form.

"He's so big!" Grell had stars in his eyes and his nose was bleeding.

"This isn't the time for you to be fantasizing Red." The doors opened and Pluto ran inside. Deciding that there wasn't really any threat at the moment Ivy zoned out and just followed behind them for the purpose of not wasting any energy. The only one who really noticed was Sebastian who was relatively happy with her decision, but he kept an eye on her just in case.

They ran up the winding staircase for what seemed like forever before finally reaching a door. Cautiously walking in they immediately noticed Elizabeth in a small chair on the other side of the room. Ciel ran up to here and started shouting her name to try to get her attention. Her eyes were shut and no matter how many times he called her that didn't change.

"Well it seems that we're to late." Grell sounded like he was actually trying to make things worse.

"No. That can't be true." He continued calling to her and this time he tried shaking her too. This time it worked and she opened her eyes. "Lizzie. You're okay." He sighed in relief.

"That's the ring." She spoke quietly and he looked down at the ring he had placed on his thumb earlier. "So you liked it. I'm so happy." Realization flashed across his face. Grell yawned and Ivy couldn't help but think that for once he had the right idea. This conversation was taking to long. Just as she finished her thought a voice came from somewhere near by, but she couldn't locate the source. Strings that they had managed to miss when they walked in began pulling on Elizabeth's limbs and controlling her like a puppet. An ax flew across the room and into her hands before she started attacking Ciel and screaming at her body to stop. Sebastian swooped in and pulled Ciel out of the way of every swing.

"Look sharp Grell...Can't you see what's happening?" He jumped backwards past Grell who was cleaning dirt from under his nails while sitting on a large table. Ivy tried to move but the pain shot through her leg again causing everything to begin fading to black and there was a loud ringing in her ears. She grabbed onto the table to keep from falling and by the time her vision cleared again Sebastian had grabbed onto the handle of the axe.

"Please do help us out Grell." He smiled at Grell before giving Ivy a look telling her to stay put.

"Oh Bassy. How could I deny you? Well then when we kiss...can it be just a little bit of tongue?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I can in fact tie a cherry stem in a knot using my tongue." Grell began dancing in excitement before attacking Elizabeth.

"No Grell. Stop." Grell cut the strings controlling Elizabeth causing her to fall to the ground. Sebastian explained what had happened to her and Grell began bragging about how amazing he was for being able to cut the strings with ease.

"Well done. Perhaps you should run with scissors more often." Ivy didn't really bother with anything happening around them until she felt something tighten around her. It was one of the puppet strings. Looking around she realized the other three had been tangled up in it too.

"It would seem I have three new puppets at my disposal. What material shall I use this time?"

"Indeed. And of what materials are you made?"

"Me? I don't know. What am I made out of?"

"What are you trying to do Demon?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but whatever materials were used don't seem to be of the highest quality." Sebastian kicked the axe that was still near his feet straight at the man on the balcony above them causing the strings to loosen. Ivy fell and decided there was no real point in wasting the energy to get up for the time being. Sebastian used Grell's head as a ledge to jump off of so that he could reach the man on the balcony and slammed the axe down on him. Both of them came falling down at the same time. The only difference was that Sebastian landed on his feet while the other person flopped down on top of Grell with all the of grace of a fish out of water.

"Was that really necessary Demon?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean stepping on Red's head and then dropping a person on him. I realize he's annoying but still." Sebastian just shrugged before walking over and helping her off of the ground. He allowed her to lean on him for support

"So he was a doll to?"

"His name is Drocel Kienz. His soul was collected five years ago, but we still detected signs of his existence."

"He must have been fitted with a transient soul by somebody. His master maybe." Elizabeth began talking to Ciel and Ivy hid behind Sebastian until she closed her eyes again. He didn't question it. Shortly afterward Drocel stood back up and opened a set of doors in an attempt to get to his master. He fell down in the doorway and everyone else ran in. Rather than paying attention to what they were doing she dropped down next to the man on the ground and checked for any sign that he was still alive. She would rather not have him pop up again and cause trouble. Grabbing onto Sebastian's arm she pulled herself to her feet and leaned on him again. She could feel the annoyance radiating off of Grell so she moved over to the wall instead. Her focus returned to the conversation just as Drocel's master began talking about why he was trying to make a perfect doll.

"I am no ones doll, and I will never be a part of your collection." Ciel pulled one of the rings off of his thumb and threw it in the direction of the man. "Here's your ring."

"You ought to learn your place boy."

"What?"

"My butler's head was filled with straw. With such limited intellect it is no surprize he didn't understand why I wanted you." Ivy looked down at the body on the floor with pity. "Ciel Phantomhive, the manner of your death has been fated since the day you were born. That body you wear, is unclean." Shock crossed Ciel's face and Ivy had heard enough about his past to understand why.

"How could you know about that?" Both of them spoke at once.

"I cannot allow someone like you to live in this world. You are unclean, unnecessary, unwanted. That is why I intend to erase you." The man began chanting about the fact that Ciel was unclean and had to be destroyed.

"Stop talking!" Ciel walked to the chair the man was sitting in so that he could see him with the other three close behind.

"It's a puppet." The smaller puppet in its lap got up and laughed mainiacly before scurrying off.

"Sebastian, go catch that thing."

"The person pulling the strings is elsewhere my lord. It wouldn't do any good to give chase." Ivy noticed Grell was still cowering behind him.

"What's wrong Red? Afraid of dolls now?" It was obvious she was taunting him but he was still too focused on the spot where the doll ran out to notice. They all made their way back down the long flight of stairs and outside. The sun was out already and Ivy watched the clouds as Ciel and Sebastian decided what to do next and Grell ran off.

* * *

Elizabeth spent the entire carriage ride asleep and Ciel fell asleep about halfway through leaving only Ivy and Sebastian awake. They were sitting next to each other. Sebastian was across from Ciel and Ivy was across from Elizabeth. As soon as he was sure both of them were in a deep enough sleep that they wouldn't hear anything he broke the silence.

"Why are you not sleeping?"

"I see no need to right now. I most likely won't do very many things that are energy consuming today so it is unnecessary." Even as she spoke it was obvious she was trying to use as little energy as possible.

"How many times will I need to remind you that lying to me won't work? I know you've fallen ill again. If you continue pushing yourself it will only make it worse."

"It's fine. I've put up with much worse. Right now I'm just tired."

"I saw the pained expression you had while we were in the tower earlier. And again when you were getting into the carriage. You're not just tired. You're injured as well. It will take longer for you to heal if you don't get proper rest." She just shrugged and looked out the window. He sighed and moved her so that she was leaning against him and put an arm around her so that she wouldn't be able to move away.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking away your options. Go to sleep." She sighed in defeat. Arguing would take to much energy.

"Fine, I'll sleep, but could you let go. This position is uncomfortable." Her side was pressed up against his and her head was resting awkwardly on his shoulder. His grip loosened for a few seconds, but he didn't let her go. Instead he picked her up and positioned her so that she was sitting sideways on his lap.

"Better?" He had a strange tone in his voice that she didn't recognize, but she just brushed it off.

"I'm starting to think you enjoy having girls sitting on your lap." She pointed to Ciel and Elizabeth. "What are you going to do if one of them wakes up?"

"I doubt they will wake up, but if they do I suppose I will have to move you out of my lap before they see." He wrapped his arms around her waist. "And it's not that I enjoy having girls sitting in my lap. Just you." He pressed his lips to hers and, much to his surprize, she returned the kiss. He didn't want to be the one to end it, but he also didn't want to be the reason she didn't get any sleep so he pulled away. She leaned against his chest and soon she was fast asleep. He stared down at her for a few minutes trying to figure out why she had actually kissed back this time. _It must have been because she was tired and not thinking. She's never done it before. It most likely won't happen again. Not anytime soon anyway. I shouldn't have pulled back. _He sighed regretting his decision to cut the kiss short. He gave her another kiss before leaning back to look out the window. The rest of the trip was spent in silence as everyone except for him slept soundly.

* * *

As they pulled up to the manor he moved her out of his lap and woke Ciel up. After helping Ciel out of the carriage Sebastian picked Ivy up and carried her inside. Sending Bardroy to get Elizabeth he took Ivy up to her room and put her down on her bed. When he moved away the sudden loss of warmth caused her to wake up. She sat up and rubbed her eyes before looking at him. "Demon? What time is it?" The sunlight coming through her window threw her off. He looked at his pocket watch before answering.

"It's about noon."

"Was there a point to that? You don't really need that watch to tell time do you?"

"No I don't. It's become a force of habit I suppose." He moved back over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. "You should get some more sleep." He gently pushed her back until she was laying down again. She didn't respond, but he assumed she agreed because she didn't try to get back up either. Resting a hand on her cheek he slowly leaned down until his lips were only about an inch away from hers. He wanted to know if she would return it again, but he hadn't realized how worried he was that she wouldn't until now. Deciding he was going to find out sooner or later he moved forward the rest of the way so their lips met. He wasn't disappointed. He felt the distinct pressure of her kissing back. Sooner than he would have liked the pressure went away, and he felt her pushing against his chest in an attempt to get him to stop. Obeying her request he pulled away and looked down at her with a slight pout.

"I know you heard the bell. Go see what he wants." He smiled and leaned down again.

"It's nothing urgent. He can wait for a few more minutes." She was slightly surprised to hear him say that. He moved to kiss her again, but she pulled the blanket over her head effectively blocking his attempt. Sighing he sat back up and pulled the blanket back down. She sat up in the bed so that it would be easier for her to escape if he tried again.

"It's like you want to be questioned." His smile returned.

"Alright you win, but if I go you have to promise you'll get some more rest after I leave."

"Fine. Just hurry up and leave unless you want him to come searching for you."

"I doubt he'd do that." He stood up and cupped her cheek in his hand so she wouldn't move away before leaning down and giving her another quick kiss. Walking over to the door he waited for her to lay back down before leaving. He spent the short walk to the lounge thinking about what had just happened. _I almost went against orders for something as simple as a kiss. It must be due to the contract. That's the only explanation._ He had gone much farther with women plenty of times before, but never at the expense of disobeying orders. The only thing he could think of that made her any different was the type of contract he had with her. _But why did I make that contract? Twice even._ His thought were interrupted.

"Sebastian!" Ciel had an annoyed expression, and Elizabeth was watching him quietly. Irritated that his young master had pulled him away first from Ivy and now from his thought's he had to force a smile onto his face. "It's about time. You've been staring at the floor for nearly five minutes."

"I apologize young master. I was distracted. It will not happen again." He already regretted listening to Ivy and coming to see what Ciel wanted.

* * *

Ivy wasn't entirely sure when she fell asleep, but she didn't wake up until there was a loud knocking at her bedroom door at some point after the sun went down. Sitting up she realized that she had been tucked in leading her to assume that Sebastian had come back after she fell asleep. She forced herself to leave the comfort of her bed and answer the door. The first thing she noticed when she made it to the door was that it was locked, but the key was still in the lock on her side. _So he was here. I don't know what the point in this was though._ She was almost immediately given the answer through the door by the person responsible for waking her.

"Ivy, open up! Come on I know your in there!" The overly eccentric voice that she recognized as Elizabeth's called through the door. Ivy froze with her hand on the key before sighing and turning it. The door flew open and she barely managed to avoid getting hit by it before getting tackled by a pink and yellow blob. She didn't fall over or allow herself to get spun around like Ciel usually did, but she also didn't push the girl who was currently invading her personal space away. "You really do still look exactly the same. You haven't changed at all...Why are your blankets messed up? Oh no! did I wake you? Is that why the door was locked?" She had a worried look on her face, and Ivy didn't feel like seeing what would happen if she made it worse.

"No. When we returned I was tired so I took a nap and since I will be going asleep again soon I didn't bother fixing the covers. I locked the door when I was changing and I guess I forgot to unlock it." A huge smile spread across Elizabeth's face.

"Well, since you haven't changed yet you should let me choose your dress. I already know just the one. I'll be right back." She ran out of the room giving Ivy a chance to look down at the clothes she was wearing. She was sure she hadn't really changed clothes, but she was in a nightgown instead of the dress she had worn that day. Knowing it was most likely Sebastian who had changed her clothes she brushed it off and looked up just in time to see Elizabeth run inside and close the door behind her. She was holding a light blue ball gown with pink trim. Along with the dress she held a pink corset with light blue decorations on it. As soon as she noticed the dress Ivy began backing away only to be followed by Elizabeth. It wouldn't be the first time the young girl forced her to wear the dress. Just the idea of wearing a puffy skirt and a corset made her cringe.

"Blondie, you know I don't like that dress. The corset and the skirt get on my nerves."

"What kind of woman doesn't like ball gowns. And any proper lady must get used to wearing a corset so that their dresses fit them right."

"Frills and layers make walking difficult and everyone ties corsets way too tight so they limit mobility and breathing becomes nearly impossible. Along with that the colors are much to childish and innocent for my personality. Besides I'm not a proper lady by any means. Even if I were one I'm thin enough as it is to make such things unnecessary." It was true. She was extremely skinny, but not enough to look unhealthy. It didn't matter though. Her protests fell on deaf ears and eventually she gave in and wore the dress. As she expected Elizabeth tied the corset too tight, but she just decided to put up with it. _It's just for a few hours anyway._ The dress had long sleeves and a square neckline and the corset went from the tops of her hips to just below her breasts. It didn't look bad, but when you added in the fact that the dress looked like it was made for an overgrown child rather than a teenage girl it just seemed wrong.

They made their way to Ciel's party and were met with a mixture of odd and amazed looks. Most of which went toward Ivy. The only one in the room who had seen her in the dress she was wearing before was Ciel. It made her uncomfortable, but she pushed past it and eventually the attention faded so that she was able to fade into the background as Ciel an Elizabeth sat together and celebrated his birthday. It wasn't until a few hours later that Sebastian managed to make his way over to her. He could tell that her breathing seemed shallow even though she didn't allow it to show.

"Are you feeling ill again Ivy? You're breathing seems to be quite labored."

"No. She just tied the corset a little bit too tight." She somehow managed to sound normal and not pause to breathe as she spoke.

"That won't do. If you'd like I can loosen it for you." After checking to make sure no one was looking he held out his hand to her. Taking it she allowed herself to be led out of the lounge and back to her room. They walked inside and he closed and locked the door behind them. Without a word he turned her so that her back was facing him and went to work undoing the string that held the corset closed. She knew that he wasn't really a fan of the way they made her look so she wasn't surprised when he pulled the string all the way out rather than just loosening it and dropped it on the bed next to them. What did surprize her was the feeling of the buttons on the back of her dress being undone and a warm hand resting on the mark on her back, or where it was supposed to be at least.

Under her dress was a thin layer of bandages that covered from the middle of her chest all the way down to her hips. He released her dress and after a few seconds he hooked a finger around the top of the bandages. "Why?" He tugged lightly at the bandages whose only purpose seemed to be to get in his way.

"I couldn't reach all of the buttons so I put the bandages on to cover the mark so that I could ask Blondie for help without her seeing it." He had let go of the dress so she had to cross her arms in front of her to keep it from falling the rest of the way off.

"It seems like she would have the type of personality that she would move the bandages out of the way due to simple curiosity."

"I told her that I have a big scar on my back that is in no way cute and that I get embarrassed when anyone sees it. Just the idea that it wasn't cute made her completely lose interest." She shrugged as she spoke. He sighed.

"I see. Then would it be alright if I removed them now?" Without waiting for her response he tore the bandages and pulled them away from her also allowing them to fall to the bed. She just flopped on her bed and curled up in the covers with her eyes closed as a response. He sighed again and pulled the covers away from her. "You must change first." She opened her eyes slightly and gave him what he assumed to be an attempt at a pout before reaching for the covers. He only moved them farther from her reach and pulled her to her feet. Even though it wasn't in any way necessary he leaned in closer to her so that his mouth was by her ear and whispered, "If you won't change on your own I'll gladly do it for you again." He had a perverted tone in his voice that made her run to the bathroom to change before he had the chance to try anything.

When she returned he was still standing there but the corset and bandages were no longer on her bed. He put a hand out and motioned to the dress she was holding which she handed to him before crawling back into bed. She could hear him putting the dress away as she closed her eyes and pulled the covers tighter around her. Chuckling at her action he moved back over to the bed and sat next to her. It was still too early for him to lay down beside her so he just began absent-mindedly dragging his fingers through her hair. He wasn't sure when it had happened but this action had become a habit for him and a large portion of the time he didn't even realize he was doing it until he felt her move closer to him in response. Leaning down with the hopes of getting another kiss from her he was interrupted by the sound of his master calling him.

He hadn't realized how late it really was until he reached the lounge and saw Elizabeth was already preparing to leave and the servants had long since gone to bed. As soon as she was gone he helped Ciel get ready for bed and rushed back to Ivy's room. By the time he got there she already seemed to be fast asleep so all he could do was lay down on the bed next to her and pull her as close as he could without waking her. His assumption that she had been fast asleep was quickly proven wrong as she shifted so that she could see his face. She placed a quick kiss that was so soft it was almost nonexistent on his lips before curling up next to him with her face buried in his chest. "That's what you were gonna do before you were called right?" Laughing quietly at her actions he moved so that her face was no longer hidden from him.

"Very close." He moved his lips to hers and gave her a long gentle kiss. She returned it and when he finally pulled away from her he moved her head so that it was resting on his chest and went back to dragging his fingers through her hair. Within seconds she was fast asleep in his arms. He suddenly recalled himself questioning why he had made the contract with her. He had no doubts about why he had made the contract with her anymore. _It was because of this. She's become good at manipulating me without even intending to. _He smiled at the sleeping girl. _I don't have any complaints though._


End file.
